Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has resigned after attempting to interfere with an active investigation into allegations of misconduct against him, the city’s mayor said.
In a news conference announcing O’Hara’s resignation on Tuesday night, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city received a complaint alleging the police chief engaged in sexual relationships with city employees. City authorities investigated the allegations over several months and concluded they were unsubstantiated.
However, Frey said investigators informed him on Tuesday that O’Hara had deleted a contact card for an individual from his city-issued cellphone while the investigation was underway “in an attempt to shield that evidence of his connection to the person.” The mayor said it amounted to an “interference” in the investigation and a “breach of trust.”
“Because of that, I informed the chief that I would be disciplining him up to and including discharge, and he resigned,” Frey said.
The Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. O’Hara has not publicly commented on his resignation or the circumstances around it as laid out by the mayor.
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O’Hara’s sudden ousting from his position is a stark turnaround from the mayor’s recent praise of him. Just earlier this month, Frey had nominated O’Hara for a second term despite misgivings from some City Council members and dozens of misconduct complaints against the police chief during his three years in the role.
“Chief Brian O’Hara is the right leader for this moment in Minneapolis,” Frey said in a statement at the time. “We’ve made significant progress on reform, reducing gun violence, and rebuilding our police department — and that progress depends on stable leadership.”
O’Hara assumed the role of police chief in 2022, a year after Minneapolis residents opted against dismantling the police department despite deep discontent with law enforcement in the city, including the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.
The police chief’s national profile rose earlier this year during the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown in the Minneapolis area. Like Frey, he was fiercely critical of the federal operation, warning his officers to intervene if they saw federal agents using unlawful force or risk losing their jobs.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.