When criminal charges don’t materialize, civil litigation becomes the most realistic path to consequences—lawsuits seeking damages, discovery of internal records, and sworn testimony that forces a public accounting. That doesn’t send anyone to prison, but it can expose facts that never surface in a closed investigation and can lead to disciplinary or policy changes, even if the officer remains employed.
Good’s death has already changed the local atmosphere in Minneapolis. Reporting describes protests, heightened tension around federal operations, and a community that now sees immigration enforcement not as administrative action but as a physical threat that can escalate in seconds. (People.com)
That gap—between what people feel they saw and what prosecutors say they can prove—is where these cases live and die.