HUNTER: Defund Cops politician changes his mind after bloody car theft

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Shivanthi Sathanandan wanted to “dismantle” the police piece by piece, district by district.

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The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official was uproared in 2020 when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police – along with many of us.

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She vowed online that she and other activists would “disband the Minneapolis police force.”

“MPD has systematically failed the black community, it has failed ALL of us. It’s time to build a new infrastructure that works for ALL communities. If you still don’t agree with this BASIC FACT, I don’t know what to tell you,” she wrote during that tense year.

Sathanandan also welcomed the Minneapolis School Board’s decision to end its cooperation with the police: “MPD should have no place in our children’s schools.”

Now, in a dramatic about-face, Sathanandan sings a very different tune.

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Weary Canadians, weary of a revolving door justice system that treats crime gently, could only dream of such a shocking turnaround.

As it stands now, after every criminal crime, the question arises for the Hoi Polloi: “How would a politician react if he or someone in his family were the victim of a violent crime?”

We now have an answer.

Sathanandan was the victim of a violent car theft at around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday outside her Twin Cities home. The attack happened in front of her 4-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

The prairie politician posted a photo of her bloodied face on Facebook – and she’s calling for scalps. Credit when due.

She wrote: “I have a broken leg, deep cuts on my head, bruises and cuts all over my body. And I’m angry.

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“These men knew what they were doing. I have NO DOUBT they’ve done this before. Yet they are still on OUR ROADS. Kill mothers. They cause psychological trauma in babies that lifelong therapy cannot alleviate. Without hesitation and without regret.”

Sathanandan is now calling for stricter laws against crime and praises the police.

“I am now part of the statistics. I was not silent when I fought these men to save my life and my babies, and I will not be silent now. We need to ban illegal guns from our streets, capture these young people who are running wild and wreaking havoc in our city, and arrest and prosecute them,” she wrote.

“Look at my face. Think of me as you consider making sure youth and young people are released from prison to roam our streets, rather than being held accountable for their actions.”

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And now? The police officers were “unbelievable”.

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It is a truism that the police do little when it comes to crime unless it affects them directly. The words “out of touch” hit us far too often.

God forbid anything happens to any of our elected officials or their families.

What then?

Would they continue to stifle the cries of pain of the mothers whose children were murdered? Decline early parole for a cold-blooded killer? Or the transfer of one of the country’s most notorious killers to a gentler prison?

I would expect that two-thirds of politicians would suddenly advocate a more realistic worldview of crime in this country.

It took a horrific, potentially fatal auto theft to turn Shivanthi Sathanandan around. Is that what is needed here?

I hope not.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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