Milwaukee Officer Suspended After Violent Arrest Caught On Video

Milwaukee police are investigating after officers kicked and punched a man restrained on the ground who had lashed out at arresting officers.

One officer is on paid suspension and three others are on administrative duty after video shot by a bystander emerged of the violence Wednesday evening. Separate police body camera footage shows the suspect attacking officers.

Police have not yet released the identities of the officers involved or the 25-year-old suspect.

Police say one officer suffered facial injuries and three others had swelling and bruises. The suspect was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and will undergo a mental health exam.

The incident comes shortly after the four-year anniversary of a high profile case where a police officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, an unarmed black man with schizophrenia.

Since the 2014 shooting, the Milwaukee Police Department has expanded its Crisis Intervention Team training, which teaches officers how to better deal with mental illness.

Nate Hamilton, Dontre’s brother and co-founder of the Coalition for Justice, says there needs to be an evaluation of the training’s effectiveness.

“It was something that we wanted to use as a learning tool for the police department in hoping that they were like enthusiastic about this training and just helping them be better prepared for the job that they’re doing, and I think it wasn’t received as well as we hoped and anticipated,” Hamilton said.

Police union President Mike Crivello says he doesn’t think the officers involved in Wednesday’s altercation did anything wrong. And he is pushing back against criticisms of how officers responded to the call.

“I don’t think anyone who watches what took place would know if any level of crisis intervention training would have made a difference with that particular individual,” he said.

Crivello said he’s open to evaluating the effectiveness of the training but he also said the officers were not properly equipped with tasers, tools that could have helped subdue the man faster.

In a statement, Alderman Khalif Rainey said the number of blows officers gave the man being arrested disturbs him.

“With our recent history of MPD officers using force and questionable judgment against citizens (Dontre Hamilton, Sylville Smith, body cavity searches, etc.), incidents like this one continue to erode an already fragile relationship between the police and the community,” Rainey wrote in a statement.

Police Chief Alfonso Morales said the action taken against the officers is standard procedure.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, with original reporting from WPR staff.