Data Request Reveals Mayor Frey Went Missing in Days After Davis Moturi was Shot by Neighbor

The Mayor’s Office claims that he made no phone calls or texts in the days between the shooting of Davis Moturi and the arrest of John Sawchak.

MINNEAPOLIS — On Wednesday, October 23rd Davis Moturi was shot in his front yard. His neighbor John Sawchak was arrested for the shooting days later in the early morning hours of Monday, October 28th. According to a data request obtained by Mpls for the Many, the Mayor’s Office claims that Mayor Jacob Frey did not make a single text or phone call between the day Davis Moturi was shot and the arrest of his neighbor, John Sawchak.

Read the results of the data request here: bit.ly/FreyGoneMissing

This story made national headlines, as Mr. Moturi had pleaded with local authorities for over ten months, seeking relief from a prolonged and well-documented campaign of racist harassment from his nextdoor neighbor, John Sawchak. Are we to believe that while the country was talking about the Minneapolis Police Department’s failure to protect a Black man from his racist neighbor, Mayor Frey did not make a single text or phone call to address this situation?

The day before the arrest, Council Member Emily Koski released a statement claiming “the mayor is just…hiding.” This data request seems to back up her claim. Either that, or the city is now hiding the Mayor’s communications. 

This past Monday, the City of Minneapolis agreed to the terms of a federal consent decree for MPD with the Department of Justice, becoming the first city in the country to have a police force under simultaneous national and state consent decrees. The Department of Justice’s initial report detailed the department’s racist and abusive practices between 2016 and 2022. Mayor Frey was responsible for MPD for most of that time period, knew a second consent decree was coming, and yet, he appears to have continued to ignore the needs of Black residents whose safety was not a priority for MPD.

Mpls for the Many Chair Chelsea McFarren had this to say about the Mayor’s apparent disappearance in the day’s between the shooting of Davis Moturi and the arrest of John Sawchak:

“This data request confirms what people in our communities have known for years: when we need him most, Mayor Frey is absent and unaccountable. The Mayor either made zero texts or phone calls to resolve the Davis Moturi incident or he is hiding his communication regarding public safety. Either way, he is failing Minneapolis residents. If we want to address the needs of our communities and build a comprehensive public safety system, it is time for new leadership in the Mayor’s office.”