Tommie Baker

How they died

Less-than-lethal force

Baker resisted a Minneapolis police officer trying to handcuff him after a traffic stop. Baker was found to have a bag of crack cocaine in his mouth. Minneapolis police officer Daniel Ledman put Baker on his stomach on the ground and kneed him four times in the rib cage as he tried to handcuff him. After he subdued Baker, the officer couldn't find the crack in his mouth and feared he had swallowed it and called an ambulance. The medical examiner ruled Baker died from choking on a plastic bag.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Tommie Baker, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources