NO DRUGS, NO WEAPONS FOUND IN POLICE-SHOOTING VEHICLE

A thorough search of the car driven by an alleged drug dealer who was
shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers earlier this week
found no narcotics or weapons, the St. Paul Police Department said
Friday.

James C. Fye and Michael W. Ivory reportedly were trying to sell
about a half-pound of marijuana to undercover Minneapolis officers
Tuesday night in downtown St. Paul when the shooting happened.

Fye, 29, died after being shot several times. Ivory, 39, was wounded
in his upper body. On Friday he remained in fair condition at Regions
Hospital.

Ivory, who like Fye has a long criminal record, arranged the deal by
calling an undercover Minneapolis officer Tuesday afternoon to set up
the exchange, which he demanded take place in a public St. Paul
location, authorities said. Both men lived in St. Paul.

Authorities said that about 12 Minneapolis officers who had been
working on arresting the two men for more than a month arrived in St.
Paul about 6:20 p.m. and notified St. Paul officers that they needed
backup.

The Minneapolis investigators met the suspects near Mickey's Diner
about 6:30. According to authorities, when the two suspects told
police that they had the marijuana but wanted to go to another place
to make the exchange, the Minneapolis officers converged to make the
arrests.

Minneapolis police officials said Fye, who was driving, hit one
officer with the car and dragged another for a short distance while
trying to escape. Three Minneapolis officers fired about 20 shots at
the car.

Witnesses initially told police that they had seen a shotgun in the
front seat of the suspects' car, but St. Paul investigators said no
weapons or drugs were found when the car was searched Wednesday night.

Minneapolis police officials maintain that the officers fired because
the suspects used their car as a weapon and the officers feared for
their lives.

St. Paul police have not been able to verify this because all of the
Minneapolis officers, on the advice of their attorney, refused to
speak with St. Paul investigators who were trying to determine if the
shooting was justified.

On Friday, St. Paul police began interviewing some of the Minneapolis police.

St. Paul police wouldn't say what, if anything, they learned in the
interviews Friday.

Among the questions St. Paul police are seeking to answer are why so
many Minneapolis officers were involved in what seemed to be a
relatively low-level drug buy; why St. Paul police were given such a
short warning about the operation, and what exactly happened to
precipitate the shooting.

Although cross-jurisdictional operations are not uncommon, St. Paul
police spokesman Michael Jordan said Wednesday that the St. Paul
department had "some protocol issues" to discuss with Minneapolis
police in the wake of the shooting.