Racist Suspect City Attorney Blames Sterling Brown for Questioning the "Authority" of White Cop En-Forcing Parking Ticket Law w/Violence in Empty Parking Lot at 2AM
/White Cop: "I OWN THIS [the streets]" [YOU CANT WALK WHERE I WALK]. From [HERE] The chief of the Milwaukee Police Department has apologized to Sterling Brown for the “inappropriate” actions of city police officers who used a Taser to subdue the Milwaukee Bucks guard during an arrest over a parking violation in January. After reviewing video of the incident, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett did, too, saying he was “offended by what [he] saw on the video” and that he was “very sorry the Milwaukee police treated [Brown] in the fashion he was treated.”
Evidently, the city’s attorney disagrees with their assessment of how things went down between Brown and the Milwaukee police officers who detained him in a Walgreens parking lot in the early hours of Jan. 26.
Milwaukee City Attorney Grant Langley — the lawyer representing the city in a federal lawsuit filed by Brown in June that argues that members of the department violated his civil rights by using a Taser on him in the course of a wrongful arrest — “asserted that the officers who arrested Brown did nothing wrong” and claimed Brown “deserved some of the blame for what happened” in a written response to Brown’s suit filed late Friday night, according to Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
“The injuries and damages sustained by the plaintiff, if any, were caused in whole or in part by their own acts or omissions,” according to the city’s written response to a civil rights lawsuit filed by Brown. […]
[…] in the legal document, the city said officers did not use excessive force, did not wrongly arrest Brown and did not violate his civil rights.
The city’s response to the lawsuit asserts that the officers’ actions had nothing to do with the fact that Brown is African-American.
The document also denies the allegation by Brown that “Wisconsin is a particularly hostile location for African-Americans, specifically with regards to their interactions with police and police violence.”
Why was Sterling Brown arrested?
Milwaukee police initially reported that, while “conducting a business check” at around 2 a.m. on Jan. 26, they encountered a vehicle parked across two disability parking spaces” in the Walgreens’ parking lot, and that while speaking with and giving a citation to a “22-year-old male,” later identified as Brown, he became combative.
“During the incident an electronic control device was deployed and the man was arrested,” Milwaukee Police Sgt. Tim Gauerke told Yahoo Sports in a statement. “The circumstances of the incident and the use of force are currently being reviewed by the Department.”
That review, which included the viewing of police body camera footage of the incident, revealed that Brown’s actions did not warrant a criminal charge for resisting arrest or obstructing an officer. That footage made its way to the desk of Mayor Barrett, who said in May — four months after officers Tased Brown — that he “definitely [had] concerns” about the behavior of the officers involved based on what he saw.
Footage shows police officers acted inappropriately
One day later, the department released the footage. It shows an officer initiating a verbal confrontation with Brown, at least five other backup vehicles arriving to handle a traffic citation, and officers surrounding Brown because he didn’t take his hands out of his pockets immediately as ordered, taking him to the ground and eventually Tasing him.
WISN-TV in Wisconsin later uncovered more footage from Brown’s arrest. One portion showed an officer stepping on his ankle while he was pinned face down on the ground and handcuffed, and other officers expressing concern about Brown’s treatment only after realizing that he plays for the Bucks, meaning there would likely be a “media firestorm” from which they’d need to protect themselves. Additional footage showed one of the officers surrounding Brown before his Tasing briefly drawing his gun. None of the video footage released to date offers an indication that Brown acted aggressively or inappropriately toward the officers who apprehended him.
“Sterling Brown could be dead,” his lawyer, Mark Thomsen, told WISN. “That gun could have gone off, and it would be a whole different story.”
Video of Brown’s arrest sparks controversy
Chief Morales apologized to Brown for the incident, saying the officers who “acted inappropriately […] were recently disciplined.” Three officers — Joseph Grams, the first officer on the scene, and sergeants Jeffrey Krueger and Sean A. Mahnke — received suspensions ranging from two days to just over two weeks. Eight others were ordered to “undergoing remedial training in professional communications.” Following the release of the multiple videos of Brown’s detention, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission has ordered a complete audit and review of the arrest, what precipitated it and its aftermath.
