Just after 8 a.m. Thursday Sean McArdle went for his usual walk with his dogs in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood.

Along the way, McArdle, 42, said he noticed “two cars sitting there with tinted windows, with engines idling, and I thought it was weird, but I kept walking.”

When he got back to his house, his alley was blocked by a transit van and four to eight men in “law enforcement uniforms,” he said. There were also six to eight unmarked SUVs in the area. McArdle asked the men what was happening.

“They said something like they were performing an arrest. And I said, 'Who are you with?' They said, 'police, we're the police.' And I said, 'Are you the St. Paul Police Department?' And he said, 'Don't worry about it.’ And he turned away and walked away and got back into his vehicle.”

McAr

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