Statement regarding the incident at 14th and Vliet yesterday
From Alderman Scott Spiker July 17, 2024
Yesterday, members of the Columbus Division of Police shot and killed an individual, Mr. Samuel Sharpe, Jr., who was armed with two knives and who appeared in body cam footage to be threatening the safety of another individual.
The death of Mr. Sharpe is certainly a tragedy, and my heart goes out to his family and broad community of friends.
However, it appears from the video that the Columbus police acted to protect the individual being threatened, and that this individual could have been severely hurt or even killed had the police officers not intervened when they did.
Nevertheless, questions have been raised by the community which deserve answers, as they are both reasonable and urgent. But certain implications have also been drawn which strike me as incautious, or perhaps even rash.
Some have said that “this is what happens when” you have out-of-town officers policing a city with which they are not familiar. Not so, it might be argued. Any officers on the scene responding to a threat of deadly force mere yards away would have responded similarly to protect the public, it could be said, and done so justly.
I do not have the details needed to assess this assessment as of yet, though I suspect that this is where I will land in the end.
It is important to point out, however, that – all other things being equal – having local police interacting with members of the community instead of strangers, however well-trained (somewhat ironically, these were members of a de-escalation unit brought to Milwaukee, in part, to assist with peaceful police – protester interactions), is to be preferred. One might wonder whether a Milwaukee beat cop with knowledge of the homeless person encampment at King Park where Mr. Sharpe lived, and with familiarity with Mr. Sharpe himself and any potential mental health challenges he might have faced, might have behaved differently.
Perhaps not. Perhaps the scene before the body cameras got close enough demonstrated that the person fighting with Mr. Sharpe was in grave peril before a group of Columbus police officers rushed toward the scene. In that case, MPD could and would have done no better than our friends from Columbus in terms of de-escalating the situation (without, that is, endangering the man that Mr. Sharpe was fighting with).
But perhaps – and here I am entirely speculating, as I do not have access to the footage or eyewitness accounts that would decide the matter – perhaps there were avenues of de-escalation available to someone with a mental health background that these officers lacked.
Saying that someone did exactly as they were supposed to do in a situation—i.e., as their training requires and the circumstances, as they perceive them, dictate—is consistent with saying that someone else, differently trained, could have done better.
Perhaps this points to what many in the community have asked for for years: a model of alternative response to mental health crises and situations involving unhoused individuals. For instance, had a CART team involving a sworn police officer and a mental health professional responded, perhaps the outcome would have been different…though perhaps not.
In any event, the City and County’s inability to adequately fund and staff up such teams leaves such questions wide open…and pressing.
Another open question is why – despite assurances from the Chief and his staff on multiple occasions to the Public Safety and Health Committee that I chair, that out-of-state officers would not be placed in forward-facing positions with the general public except when accompanied by a local police presence – why that commitment appears not to have been honored in the present circumstances.
To dismiss these reasonable reflections as mere finger-pointing is to miss an opportunity to reflect more deeply ourselves on this incident and its implications for how public safety in Milwaukee can be ensured and conducted after the RNC leaves town.
I am prepared to praise the Columbus officers for potentially saving a life, while at the same time calling on the Milwaukee Police Department, the Fire and Police Commission, and the Mayor to carefully consider whether there are structural issues relating to how we police the community (and, in this instance, allow others to do so) that this incident lays bare and that warrant a more searching analysis than has been engaged in thus far.
Here, as everywhere else, reality reveals itself to be (with apologies to Quine!) a pale grey lore woven of threads that are neither quite black nor white.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Ald. Scott Spiker
Statement on the passing of Alderman Terry L. Witkowski
Nov 5th, 2024 by Ald. Scott SpikerAlderman Scott Spiker November 5, 2024
Why was deadly force the only force used?