He struggled with demons — and lost

He struggled with demons — and lost
By Rubén Rosario



Duy Ngo, the veteran Minneapolis cop who apparently killed himself Monday, left a message on my cell phone May 28.

"This is Duy Ngo, officer Ngo,'' the message started.

I remember distinctly the "officer" mention.

He called me after I dropped off my contact information and a copy of a story that week in the New York Times on a national study of police-on-police shootings. I left it on the doorstep of his immaculately manicured Mendota Heights home when no one answered the bell. I remember the American flag planted near the mailbox, flapping in the wind.

Not knowing he had remained on the police force, I reached out to him because there was no other cop in the Twin Cities or Minnesota who could provide the proper insight or perspective about the results of this study.

"This is my cell phone," Ngo said on the message I still have. "Feel free to call me, and I'll see what I can do for you."

That was the last time I heard from or about Ngo. He never returned my calls before I wrote my piece. Then came Monday's shocking development.

Seven years ago, Ngo, then an undercover Minneapolis cop assigned to the scandalized and now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force, was wounded by a robbery suspect he was chasing one wintry night. The still-unknown suspect fired a shot from a .40-caliber weapon that struck Ngo on the side of his bulletproof vest.
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He struggled with demons and lost

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo's death: Some wounds never heal
Some wounds never heal

Minneapolis police officer Duy Ngo had always said the lawsuit he filed against a fellow officer who shot him six times was not about the money but about justice. He got the money — $4.5 million in a record settlement with the city — but more elusive were justice and the ability to make it through a day without pain.

On Monday, Ngo was found dead at his home in Mendota Heights. He was 37.