Battered and Bloodied Dem Leader Who Wanted to 'Dismantle Police' Suddenly Wants to 'Take Back Our City'
A Minnesota Democratic official who once called for the Minneapolis Police Department to be “dismantled” has apparently changed her tune after becoming a victim of violent crime herself.
Shivanthi Sathanandan, who is listed as second vice chairwoman on the website of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor — the Democratic Party affiliate in the state — posted a picture of herself with what appeared to be blood running down her face to Facebook on Wednesday evening.
“Yesterday my children and I were violently car jacked in the driveway of our home in Minneapolis,” she wrote in the post. “Four very young men, all carrying guns, beat me violently down to the ground in front of our kids. The young men held our neighbors up at gunpoint when they ran over and tried to help me. All in broad daylight.”
As she wrote the post, Sathanandan seemed to become increasingly emotional — and understandably so.
“Look at my face in the picture,” she wrote. “This is the face of a mother who just had the s*** beaten out of her. A mother whose only thought was, ‘let me run far enough and fight hard enough so that my kids have a chance to get away.’ This is the face of a mother who just listened to her four year old daughter screaming non-stop, her 7 year old son wailing for someone to come help because bad guys are murdering his Mama in the back yard, her neighbors screaming in outrage … all while being beaten with guns and kicks and fists.”
The Democratic official said the attack left her with a broken leg and lacerations to her head, as well as bruising and other cuts elsewhere.
It also left her with something else, she wrote.
“And I have rage.”
Sathanandan, however, as recently as three years ago had posted on the same platform, “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department.”
“Say it with me,” she added for emphasis. “DISMANTLE The Minneapolis Police Department.” She punctuated her statement with emojis of clapping hands between each word.
That was in June of 2020. (A screen shot of the post appears below.)
Her position seems to have changed significantly this week.
“We need to get illegal guns off of our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM,” she wrote [emphasis original]. “PERIOD.”
“You could have been reading the obituary for me and my children today. But instead I’m here. To write this,” she wrote, before thanking the first responders and other community members who “came to our aide [sic]” following the attack.
“Look at my face. These criminals will not win. We need to take back our city. And this will not be the last you hear from me about this,” she said.
Facebook users, however, were quick to point out the apparently shift from her earlier-held positions, now that she had experienced crime first-hand.
“You wanted the cops gone though,” wrote Facebook user Steve Bryant, who posted a screen shot of her previous calls for “radical” change in local law enforcement.
Many other users posted similar comments.
Sathanandan does not appear to have posted to Facebook again or to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, since her Wednesday post, nor does she appear to have responded to any of the comments on it.
“I am heartbroken at the news of Shivanthi’s attack,” said Minnesota DFL Chairman Ken Martin in a statement cited by KSTP-TV. “It is my sincere hope that the people who assaulted Shivanthi are quickly brought to justice and face punishment commensurate with the severity of their crimes. My heart goes out to Shivanthi and her family and I hope their recovery from such a horrifying experience is as swift as possible.”
The outlet noted that no information regarding the suspects involved in the carjacking had been released.
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