More delay in case of death in squad car
Derek Williams died gasping for air in the back of a Milwaukee police squad car in 2011, and now another court ruling has delayed a civil rights trial over whether officers were at fault in the incident.
Thirteen months ago, the City of Milwaukee appealed a judge’s decision not to dismiss a lawsuit against the city and officers on the basis of qualified immunity.
Last week, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it couldn’t make a final ruling on that until U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller makes a more particularized finding of whether immunity applied to each of the 10 remaining defendants.
Before last year’s appeal, the case had been set for trial Aug. 28, 2017. As of now, there is no new trial date, and it was unclear Monday how long it would take Stadtmueller to make rulings on each officer’s immunity claim, or if that would require further hearings.
Initially, Stadtmueller found that there were too many factual disputes to grant summary judgment to the city and the officers on the basis of qualified immunity.
Williams, 22, died after begging for help in the back of a squad car in 2011. For 15 minutes prior, Williams, his hands cuffed behind his back, repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe. None of them called for medical attention until after he slumped over in the back of the police car, pulseless and not breathing, according to court records.
Nearly eight minutes of his struggle to breathe was captured on police video.
The initial investigations into Williams’ death — by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, the Milwaukee Police Department and the city’s Fire and Police Commission — all cleared officers of wrongdoing.
Chisholm reopened the case, named a special prosecutor and sought an inquest after a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation prompted the medical examiner’s office to change its ruling in the death from natural to homicide. In forensic terms, homicide means “death at the hands of another” but does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.
The inquest jury recommended misdemeanor charges of failure to render aid by law enforcement against three officers: Richard Ticcioni, Jeffrey Cline and Jason Bleichwehl. Special Prosecutor John Franke did not charge them, saying he did not think he could prove a case.