City filing in Brown’s suit draws ire
Mayor reiterates hope for settlement
A strongly worded court filing that said Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown was at least partly to blame for being tased by police doesn’t necessarily mean the case won’t be settled, according to City Attorney Grant Langley.
The filing, known as an “answer” to Brown’s civil rights lawsuit, “is absolutely necessary if our clients must seek to have a judge and jury determine whether Mr. Brown’s rights under the United States Constitution were violated,” Langley said in a statement.
The statement goes on to say: “Merely filing an answer does not, however, eliminate the opportunity to resolve this legal dispute before any trial.”
In this case, Langley’s clients are the city, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales and individual officers involved in the incident, in which Brown was thrown to the ground, tased and arrested as a result of a parking violation around 2 a.m. Jan. 26 in the parking lot of a Walgreens store.
Both Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Morales apologized after body camera video of Brown’s arrest was released earlier this year. Morales suspended the first officer on the scene and two sergeants. He ordered remedial training for eight additional officers.
The city’s answer to Brown’s civil suit said police did not violate his rights. It also said: “The injuries and damages sustained by the plaintiff, if any, were caused in whole or in part by their own acts or omissions.”
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Mayor Tom Barrett, who like Langley is an elected city official, reiterated that he thinks the case should be settled short of a trial.
“I think there is an opportunity for a settlement here that could be good for everybody involved — would be good for Mr. Brown, would be good for the community, would be good for the Police Department,” Barrett said.
Brown, who makes an average annual salary of more than $1 million under his 3-year contract with the Bucks, has said he filed the lawsuit to bring about a positive change in police behavior.
Barrett told reporters Tuesday that after speaking with Langley — who did not give him a chance to review the answer before it was filed — he reached this conclusion: “I think the mistake, if I can call it a mistake, is that there should have been something that explained that it was simply a legal response.”
Legal response or not, the assertion that police didn’t violate Brown’s rights highlighted the fact that white people in leadership positions “either have no clue or don’t care” that young black men are mistreated by police, said Zion Rogers, founding member of the African Students Association.
“Young black man, nice car, and naturally imposing due to his height is harassed and mistreated by law enforcement,” Rogers said of Brown’s arrest. “For us, this is becoming standard and expected by us as young blacks, and something is dangerously wrong with that equation.”
Rogers and Markasa Tucker were among those presenting prepared remarks Tuesday at a news conference convened by community groups.
Tucker, director of the African American Roundtable, said people of color living in Milwaukee are tired of being overlooked and disrespected.
“If leadership in the City of Milwaukee is truly working toward building and reestablishing relationships it must reflect actions and not words,” she said. “And the community must continue to be uplifted, partnered with, and have their efforts supported.”