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Bucks Rookie Guard Sterling Brown Sues Milwaukee Police Department
Milwaukee Bucks rookie shooting guard Sterling Brown has filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, against the city of Milwaukee and its police department. This lawsuit is claiming unlawful arrest and excessive force. Police officers violated Brown's 14th Amendment rights when they used a stun gun on him during his arrest for a parking violation. He was at a Walgreen's when this happened. The 14th Amendment is the right to not deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
On January 26, 2018, around 2:00 a.m., Brown was approached by Milwaukee's police office because his car was in-between two handicapped parking space at an empty Walgreen's parking lot. The incident was on the intersection of South 27th street and National Avenue. Brown interacted with the police officer smoothly before the conversation became more intense. So the officer asked for backup. When eight other officers arrived, this is where the problem began. One officer wanted Brown to take his hands out of his hoodie pockets. Brown told the officer that he had stuff in his hands but he was tackled to the ground and another officer yelled "Taser! Taser! Taser!" as Brown was tased by a stun-gun. Brown being tackled to ground because you didn't know what he had in his hands is a risk factor but tasering him made no sense at all. This is where Brown got arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest. The same day, one of the officers went on Twitter to mock Brown, saying, "Nice meeting Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks at work this morning! #FearTheDeer.
When the Milwaukee Police Department released that video taken by police body camera four months later, you can clearly see who was at fault and what really happened. You can see Brown's interaction with the first officer on the scene before the officer called for backup. There was more footage of other officers on the scene and what they did after Brown was taser by a stun-gun. While Brown was tackled on the ground in handcuffed, one officer puts one of his boots on Brown's ankle, leaving it there. The officer had his boot there because he didn't want Brown kicking him. In the same video, you had one other officer talking with two of its colleagues who were sitting in the squad car. They had a conversation about if they arrest Brown, they will be looked upon as being racist for arresting not only a black Bucks player but an unarmed black man in the process. It didn't even matter because they did both anyways.
The Chief of Police for the City of Milwaukee named Alfonso Morales apologized to Brown last month for the actions of what his officers had did to him. Three officers were disciplined with their suspensions ranging from two to fifteen days without pay. Eight other officers were ordered to undergo remedial training in professional communication. Brown told the paper, the Journal Sentinel that he gave in to police using a stun gun and that he didn't do anything to resist because he didn't want officers to pull out their guns. We definitely don't want to see another unarmed black man killed over senseless violence. Are people going to learn from this incident? Celebrity or non-celebrity, will this incident finally call from some serious changes within the laws and with officers?
