Police cuff lawmaker as he tries to defuse Milwaukee tension

MILWAUKEE – A state lawmaker said Wednesday that police officers threw him to the ground and put him in handcuffs as he tried to de-escalate tensions where 14 people were eventually arrested at the scene of a recent fatal police shooting and unrest on Milwaukee’s north side.

Eleven people were arrested Tuesday night for disorderly conduct and resisting an officer after police asked a crowd that had gathered to disperse and some refused to leave, according to Sgt. Timothy Gauerke.

Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, who represents the Wisconsin Assembly’s 19th District, said he went to the Sherman Park neighbourhood about 10 p.m. Tuesday after hearing of the arrests. Milwaukee police said in a statement that residents had complained that about 30 to 40 people gathered around 8 p.m. near the area where Sylville Smith, 23, was fatally shot by an officer Aug. 13.

Three more people were arrested Wednesday morning after police say a small group again gathered in the area and refused a resident’s request to leave her property. Three men were arrested for disorderly conduct, with one of them also arrested for resisting an officer.

Gauerke said he did not know the reason for the gatherings.

Brostoff, a Milwaukee Democrat, said he was briefly detained after most of the crowd had left and he was talking with the people who remained when police officers approached. Brostoff said the officers told him and Jarrett English, a youth organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union, that they heard cursing. He said officers threw English to the ground and handcuffed him. Brostoff said he started recording the incident on his cellphone, but police took his phone and threw him to the ground too.

“Then I was cuffed with zip ties and told to stand up, and they put me in the wagon,” he said.

Brostoff said he was “totally compliant,” did nothing wrong and was only in the neighbourhood to help.

“I’m trying to make their (officers) jobs easier. The whole thing is so bizarre,” he said. After police learned he was a legislator, Brostoff said, he and English were released.

Brostoff said he wants to talk to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Edward Flynn about the incident and that he planned to see a doctor Wednesday because his wrist was injured when he was taken to the ground.

“The Milwaukee Police Department has once again demonstrated its preference for occupation, excessive force and belligerence over genuine engagement, civil dialogue and de-escalation,” the ACLU of Wisconsin said in a statement Wednesday. English said the incident was “embarrassing and dehumanizing, and I did not feel that I was being treated with the dignity and respect that should be afforded any individual.”

Milwaukee police are investigating the detentions of Brostoff and English to make sure proper procedures were followed, Gauerke said.

Sherman Park was the scene of two nights of violence after Smith, a black man, was shot and killed by a black officer following a traffic stop.

Marvin Taylor, who lives in the area, said some of those visiting a memorial to Smith are from outside the area. He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “You can’t come here and take over a neighbourhood.”

Police have said body-camera video shows Smith was holding a handgun and had turned toward the officer. The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is investigating the shooting, has not released the video.

A few hours after Smith’s death, a protest erupted into violence in the largely black neighbourhood. Eight businesses were burned and police with shields were the targets of rocks and other debris. Gunfire could be heard.

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Associated Press writer Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis contributed to this report.