Fargo Police Chief: "No regrets" for kneeling to protestors during height of George Floyd demonstrations

(Fargo, ND) -- Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski is explaining why he kneeled to a crowd of protesters in 2020, after a photo surfaced of then-Beloit-Police Chief kneeling in front of protesters during a riot.

Prior to the City of Fargo hiring Dave Zibolski to become the police chief, he was the chief in Beloit, Wisconsin. He was in Minneapolis the day the third precinct police department building burned to the ground during George Floyd protests. Early the next morning, he drove back to Beloit to organize a response to possible similar protests that could spring up in Wisconsin. 

Later that same day, a group of protesters gathered outside the combined Beloit Police Station and City Hall building. The group carried signs saying "No justice, no peace", firearms, and shouted chants towards officials inside the building. Chief Zibolski then left the facility to speak with protesters upon their request, joined by Police Captain Andre Sayles. Together, they spoke with protesters via megaphone and attempted to turn down the intensity of the demonstrations. It was during this time some of the protesters requested Zibolski acknowledge the loss of George Floyd's life.

"I don't have any issue acknowledging the loss of life, I think that is very appropriate" said Zibolski. "They asked if we would kneel with them to do that, and I looked at Captain Sayles there and said 'yes this is appropriate', so that's exactly what we did."

The chief believes this action could have saved his police station and city hall building from further damage, as the protesters left the scene soon after the kneeling. He believes the situation could have become much worse if he hadn't spoken with the protesters face-to-face, citing the burning of Minneapolis' precinct three the prior day.

The discussion follows the discovery of photos of the incident, which show then-Beloit Police Chief Dave Zibolski kneeling in front of protesters. He says the incident was discussed during the hiring process and has discussed it with other members of the Police Department, but has never seen the photos shown in this story.

Zibolski says he has no regrets about the situation, and would do it again. 

"The cops are stressed. The community is stressed because of long standing concerns and issues [the public] have brought to light," said then-Police Chief Zibolski in an interview with Spectrum News.

"I'm sure people could criticize the political aspects of what they want to make this into, but it's not that. If it happened again, I would do a similar thing, in a similar situation, for the same reasons. If this exact event happened again [...] I see no issue at all with taking a moment to acknowledge loss of life, we do that all the time," said Zibolski in the most recent conversation with WDAY Radio's Ty Schonert, four years after the initial incident. 

A full video about the incident made by Spectrum News can be found by clicking here. Another article by Fox 47 on the incident can be found by clicking here.