The
bad news
for Rafael Lopez was that the 27-year-old Iraq war veteran had been
robbed and severely beaten by a gang of at least 10 men on the street
outside the Aqua
nightclub in Minneapolis. The good news – or Lopez initially thought –
was that
the assault took place less than ten yards away from the 1st Police
Precinct station.
Bruised and
bloodied, Lopez attempted to enter the station to file a complaint, only to be
met by Officer Aaron Hanson, who angrily told him to leave. As Lopez tried to
explain what had just happened to him, two of Hanson’s comrades “came out, put
their gloves on and were yelling at me, telling me to get out,” he later
recalled.
