Ramsey County sheriff threatened to pull officers from State Fair after misconduct report, lawsuit says
The assistant police chief for the Minnesota State Fair is accusing the fair and the Ramsey County sheriff of retaliation after he reported concerns of officer conduct during last year's fair.
Michael Coffey, a Cottage Grove officer who has worked as the assistant police chief of the fair since 2022, filed the whistleblower lawsuit against Fletcher and the State Agricultural Society — which governs the fair — last week.
After he reported the incidents, the lawsuit says Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher threatened to withhold police resources from the fair, and the fair's CEO limited Coffey's hours.
The lawsuit centers around three incidents that happened during the last days of the 2025 state fair.
On Aug. 30, there was a large crowd of attendees and law enforcement — including Fletcher — gathered around the Midway. There was an altercation between one attendee and the deputies, and the suit says a Ramsey County officer sprayed the crowd with chemical munitions.
Coffey believed the use of chemical munitions used "against people who had not broken the law" was unlawful excessive force, the lawsuit says. He approached Fletcher about his concerns but the suit says it was clear "Sheriff Fletcher did not appreciate this interaction or agree with Coffey's remarks."
The next day, Coffey received a video that depicted a young man on the ground and several law enforcement officers on top of him. The video shows "Sheriff Fletcher deploying a canister of chemical munitions to the face of the restrained man before pointing the canister at a surrounding crowd," the lawsuit says.
Coffey sent the video to the chief of the State Fair Police, who is also a commander for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. The police chief claimed he did not see any excessive force violations, and Fletcher denied deploying any chemical munitions, according to the suit.
Joe Dutton, a use-of-force expert who has testified in both state and federal court analyzed the video for WCCO.
"Officers or deputies order you to do something or stop doing something and you don't, pepper spray is really low on the force continuum, where an officer's presence is the lowest and deadly force is the highest," he said. "All I see is someone who got taken to the ground and at one point someone pepper sprayed him. You see him holding his face, which is not excessive force."
On Sept. 1, the last day of the fair, Coffey checked in with his team about four people who had been detained on the fairgrounds that day. Three of them were arrested by Ramsey County deputies and were not charged. The arrest notes said to "hold until after the Fair," the lawsuit says.
Coffey believed the detentions were not legal, and reported his concerns to the police chief.
In the weeks after the state fair, Coffey spoke with an FBI agent and reported what he believed were violations of the law, the suit says.
Then in November, the lawsuit alleges Fletcher demanded Coffey be terminated or the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office "would no longer provide officers for the State Fair." The CEO of the fair told Coffey that because of Fletcher's request, Coffey would be limited to working daytime hours during the Fair and would be required to leave the grounds when Fletcher arrived.
The change in schedule, the suit says, meant Coffey's wages were diminished as working nighttime hours qualifies as overtime. Coffey was also prohibited from handling scheduling duties and negotiating contracts, which he had done in the past.
Coffey's lawyer Ben Bauer said that he had "reported what he believed to be unlawful conduct, and that's what we would expect and want from any officer in that position."
"He shouldn't be punished for that, and we allege in the complaint that he was," Bauer said.
In a statement to WCCO, Fletcher said Coffey's "lack of experiencing in mitigating gang violence jeopardizes the safety of the public and the officers who work at the State Fair."
He added Coffey had made false accusations during the fair and that the lawsuit is motivated by his desire to be the next police chief for the state fair.
The Minnesota State Fair said its actions were "entirely proper." A spokesperson said that no further comment would be made while litigation is pending.