11 officers to be suspended, retrained due to their actions in Brown arrest

Eleven Milwaukee police officers will be disciplined or retrained as a result of their interaction with Milwaukee Bucks rookie Sterling Brown in January.

The officers took Brown to the ground and tased him after he parked illegally outside a Walgreens store.

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales has released the details of the discipline; he has not released the officers’ names. The Journal Sentinel obtained the names from other sources.

Sgt. Sean A. Mahnke

Action: Ordered an officer to use a Taser on Brown; among those who took Brown to the ground.

Rule violated: Failing to be a role model for professional police service.

Discipline: 15-day suspension, employee improvement plan.

Sgt. Jeffrey Krueger

Action: Grabbed Brown.

Rule violated: Failing to be a role model for professional police service.

Discipline: 10-day suspension, employee improvement plan.

Officer Joseph Grams

Action: First to confront Brown; called for backup, escalating the situation.

Rule violated: Failing to treat a member of the public with courtesy and professionalism.

Discipline: 2-day suspension, employee improvement plan, remedial

training.

Officer Bojan Smardzic

Action: Used Taser on Brown after being ordered to do so by Mahnke.

Retraining: Review of the Police Department’s policy on cooperating with citizens to ensure public safety; remedial training on professional communications.

Seven additional officers will be required to review the Police Department’s policy on cooperating with citizens to ensure public safety and will receive remedial training on professional communications.

Dispatch reports obtained by the Journal Sentinel list six additional officers involved in Brown‘s arrest and its aftermath: Cristobal Martinez Avila, James P. Collins, Christapher J. Greer, Angel L. Munoz Jr., Erik A. Andrade and Jason P. Jensen.

They are likely among those required to be retrained on cooperation and professional communications.