Off-duty security instructor pepper-sprayed autistic man

Post Reply New Topic

He was the training director of one of St. Paul’s largest security companies — a man certified on when and how to use Mace.

Which left police mystified as to why Timothy Knutsen would pepper spray an autistic man in the face for eating a cookie from a Cub Foods sampler tray.

Knutsen, 53, of St. Paul, has been charged with two counts of fifth-degree assault and disorderly conduct for an incident in Roseville last month.

According to an incident report, in early March, Knutsen was a customer at a Cub Foods at 1201 Larpenteur Ave., when he saw a man eating “a doughnut or a cookie” from the bakery. He told an employee at the store’s service desk, but she said she didn’t see it and there was nothing she could do.

“(Knutsen) was not satisfied with her response,” the complaint stated. He asked to speak to the store’s loss-prevention personnel — people he later claimed he was responsible for training. Statements from his (now former) company, American Security, as well as Cub Foods, dispute that.

The cookie eater — a 20-year-old Roseville man who was not identified because he has autism and is classified as a vulnerable adult — paid for his groceries and began making his way back to the deli/bakery area again. Knutsen fell in a few steps behind, the complaint stated.

Thirty seconds later, a store employee heard the Roseville man yell.

The Roseville man told police “he went to get a cookie from the bakery where it says ‘free cookie.’ As he did that, a man sprayed him in the face with Mace. (The victim) said that the male did not say anything to him, and he did not get a good look at him.”

Knutsen wasn’t there when police arrived. But he called police two days later to give his side of things.

He said he saw the man taking and eating food, and added that the man “came across to him as a kid that was on drugs.” When asked why he came to that conclusion, Knutsen said the man seemed to be “in a zombie state,” dragging his feet, not swinging his arms and wearing shoes whose heels were “crushed down in back.”

Police asked whether Knutsen felt threatened by the man. Knutsen said no, but said the man “turned abruptly” after Knutsen said “hey” from behind him. He added that he didn’t see the sign for free cookies.

“All I can say is ‘wow,’ ” said Stu Robinson, who teaches in the professional peace officer licensing program at Hennepin Technical College, and was the lead “use of force” trainer for Brooklyn Center’s police department for decades. “It doesn’t take a lot (of pepper spray) for it to hurt. That’s why we use it. It’s not fun stuff.”

Taking Knutsen’s statement to police at face value, “If you’re a trainer you should be very familiar with that (brand of pepper spray),” Robinson added. “It’s just like when a cop would take their gun out. They don’t put their finger on the trigger unless their sights are lined … and they’ve made the decision to shoot. Otherwise it’s a negligent discharge waiting to happen.

“He says he made a mistake. But that’s exactly why you don’t put your finger on the top.”