The Brooklyn Park police chief is taking a step no chief may have ever taken in the state: reinstating an officer to active while that officer is under state investigation for shooting a man. 

The incident is from late June, when police were originally called for an infant not breathing. As the death investigation was underway, police say the father – Orande Reese – “appeared distraught.”

Body camera footage shared by the Brooklyn Park Police Department shows Reese letting police in a home, eventually locking himself in a bedroom, and then brandishing a gun and appearing to chamber a bullet just before Officer Momodou Dibba shoots and injures Reese. 

Under a month later, Chief Mark Burley reinstated Dibba to full active duty. 

RELATED: Brooklyn Park officer returns to work months after shooting man during infant death investigation

“This is the first I’ve ever heard any police agency making a determination on an officer’s actions being justified prior to the criminal review being concluded,” Bruley said. 

“I believe in it, I think it’s the right thing to do. And again, this is done with a ton of evidence to look at and review, and a process, a very robust process, that suggests the officer’s correct,” Bruley added. “So, if the officer did it right, and we know he did it right, we have the evidence to prove he did it right, then we should move forward and make that determination.”

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the investigation into the shooting death is still ongoing. Once it’s complete, the findings will be sent to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to review and ultimately decide if charges are warranted. 

Historically, law enforcement agencies wait for that process to work out before deciding what to do with their employee. 

To help the chief land on his decision, an administrative panel and the Chief’s Multi-cultural Advisory Team (CMAT), also reviewed the evidence of the case. 

“There was concerns for the police, but there was also real concern for the family,” Luz Zagal, who has been part of the CMAT for more than 10 years, said. 

“The decision was unanimous because we all saw how the police [officer] were taking care of everyone, not just him, himself,” Zagal added. 

While the CMAT was around before Chief Bruley, when he was promoted to chief, he made changes to make sure he worked along with the team — including being part of their monthly meetings going over community issues, police policies and incidents. 

“Everybody that’s involved… in this situation, how do we work together to make this a good outcome,” Zagal said.