Mayor’s Involvement in Incident with Bucks Player Disturbing
The sheer hypocrisy concerns me and should concern every citizen in Milwaukee.
Walgreens at 2625 W. National Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
At approximately 2 a.m. last Friday (January 26) police arrested Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown after a struggle outside the Walgreens near S. 27th (Layton Blvd.) and W. National Ave. Milwaukee Police were ticketing Mr. Brown’s vehicle, which was reportedly parked across two handicap parking spots in the store’s lot, when Mr. Brown became combative and had to be tased by officers.
Because the incident occurred in my aldermanic district, I feel obligated to comment about what occurred.
The store is located in an area that has been challenged by a variety of criminal activity for years. That Walgreens location has been the victim of numerous armed robberies over the course of many, many years. As a result I have repeatedly asked the MPD to be more proactive and to increase their presence at the store and in the area surrounding it.
I’m appreciative of the response by the officers to this suspicious situation last Friday, as the vehicle could have possibly be seen as a getaway vehicle parked for a swift exit. At best, Mr. Brown could have just received a ticket from the officers and everyone goes on their merry way.
It is unfortunate that things escalated, somehow, and that Mr. Brown was tased in the course of being arrested. That said, I fully expect our officers to enforce the law – all laws – equally and without prejudice.
Now this is where things get strange.
Sources tell me that Mayor Barrett – as early as Friday morning – asked to review the body camera footage of the incident, and then ordered that Mr. Brown not be charged. If this is true, it is direct political interference in police work and is incredibly disturbing!
This interference — coming from a mayor who publicly claims he never sticks his nose into police matters — is laughable. It also begs the question: How many other times has this mayor interfered with police investigations, active cases or similar scenarios?
The sheer hypocrisy concerns me and should concern every citizen in Milwaukee.
Be careful Tom, this hypocrisy just might tarnish your good guy image.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by State Rep. Bob Donovan
So Donovan hasn’t seen the footage himself, and is going off of hearsay? What an embarrasment of an elected official.
He hasn’t seen the footage and he’s relying on unnamed sources. So he’s rushing to judgment and making incendiary claims because he loves press releases more than life itself.
If we’re going to criticize a politician for sticking his nose into a police matter, I’d be more concerned with our mayor dictating who is allowed to get away with misconduct and who isn’t. That is the job of the DAs office, not the mayor’s. The only reason Barrett did this is because he doesn’t want bad feelings between Milwaukee and the Buck’s millionare players and their billionare handlers. When I was a cop, everyone got treated the same, no matter who or what you were or how rich or poor you were. Let the cops do their jobs, Mayor Barrett.
What an embarrassment to the city. Unnamed sources feeding him information he admits he doesn’t know is even true and making a press release out of it.
How do you know Barrett did what he is accused of MKE Kid? You’re just taking Bathroom Bob at his word? That doesn’t seem wise.
PMD: Maybe because I get first hand information from people who are still on the job? I certainly am not defending blowhard Donovan. If local politicians did one third of the work that MPD cops do, they might actually earn what they’re being paid.
So maybe you have firsthand information from one of the arresting officers, or you do in fact have that information? What do you know for a fact Barrett is guilty of here? He told MPD to drop charges and they did what he said without complaint?
MKE Kid: As a product of 26th and National, I have a different take on this. I am extremely proud of the fact that an NBA player would come to our neighborhood. The last such person was Warren Spahn who accidentally walked into the National Liquor Bar in 1954 to ask someone what SLOGA meant. Too bad the visit ended so badly. My suggestion is to have a reconciliation over malts at Leon’s.
What it comes down to is the fact that we cannot see hardworking police officers doing their job. The media does not want to show this video unless it is cops beating the subject. Seeing a black man out of control disrespecting authority is apparently to common to be news worthy to the media.
Troll we obviously have ideological differences, and that’s one thing. But you are so wrong in your above post it really defies all logic and reason. Are you that ignorant? Are you that uneducated? I mean the negative effect of media depictions of black men has been researched and analyzed and written about for decades now. Images shown on the nightly news and in movies and TV shows. The way that they make it seem all black men are violent criminals. I mean this is common knowledge. Do you really not know that?
frank/robbies: I’m looking for assistance planning the 37th year class reunion of the U of Lawsonomy. Would you be available? I’m looking for suggestions for fun type activities.
Bathroom Bob, it’s your hypocrisy that is frightening. Still bitter about the last mayoral election I see.
My relative is one of the arresting officers. I imagine I’ll find out the truth soon enough.
MKE Kid, Yes I would definitely be available to assist you in organizing this seminal event. As you may recall, my tenure at the U of L (27th Street campus) was revoked over the phony charges that we had falsified our research on the plutonium laced Waukesha water and the resulting community of political mutants. All fake trumped up charges to try to suppress the truth. As a result, I transferred to the Mt. Horeb campus and the affiliate at Poupon U and the Mustard Museum. I will give a lot of thought to the possible activities for the reunion. . Do you have any sense of the potential turnout? As I recall, that was a big, fun loving, class, especially if you include the students who were in the Witness Protection Program. Will Leon’s be catering?
PMD, I AM SURE YOUR SO OFFENDED. The subject was black. I am sure cops have to deal with violent Asians, white and Hispanics people but we rarely see those videos. Police officers have it bad and they have to confront pukes like the Bucks rookie.
@Troll, “YOUR” [sic] , “Hispanics” [sic] …You should really learn basic grammar and how to spell before trolling online, lest you sound even more dumb.
Troll do you live in 21st century America? What do you mean we never see the videos? You don’t know what happened and you don’t know the bucks player but you label a black man a puke because you’re racist. I find racists offensive as most civil people do.
“Terry says:
January 26, 2018 at 11:13 am
@Chuck. Ad hominem attacks, insults or namecalling won’t work anymore. Got anything consyructive to add? Didn’t think so. Come on out to the woods anytime!”