Updated: 10-16-2003 02:20:36 PM
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Two officers were suspended with pay after a man alleged he was sodomized with a toilet plunger during a drug raid. Their attorneys said the officers did nothing wrong, and the FBI is investigating.
At a Thursday morning news conference, Rybak promised "immediate and swift consequences" if the allegations of brutality proved true.
Rybak said that it usually takes 15 days for the FBI to do a preliminary report, 90 days for the final report. He says he'll encourage the bureau to work fast.
In addition to the FBI investigation, an internal police investigation also is being conducted.
If the federal investigation finds enough evidence to warrant charges, a conviction on those charges could carry a sentence up to ten years. If there is not enough evidence to press charges, the internal investigation could still find enough evidence to suspend the officers.
If none of the allegations are shown to be true, there could still be charges. Rybak noted that it is a crime to give false statements to the FBI.
Rybak wouldn't answer direct questions about the case, but said, "I want the public to know as much as I know and I will tell them everything I legally can."
Stephen Porter, 25, whom police said had a history of hiding drugs in his rectum, spoke publicly Wednesday for the first time since the alleged assault.
"I'm hurting. Real bad," he said. Later, in a hallway outside the community center where his news conference was held, Porter collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital, but not admitted.
The brutality claim, announced earlier this week by police Chief Robert Olson without details, has aggravated already tense relations between city police and many blacks.
Rybak called a community meeting for tomorrow night in Farview Park in north Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, activists are planning a march to the Hennepin County Government Center a week from tomorrow, to protest alleged police brutality.
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