Marchers go to Wauwatosa police station to protest
Alvin Cole shot, killed by officer in February
Protesters gathered Tuesday to spotlight the death of an African American by police, but it wasn’t Minneapolis and it wasn’t George Floyd.
Instead, around 150 people gathered in Wauwatosa to march to the Police Department to protest the death of Alvin Cole, 17, who was killed in February after firing a shot from a stolen gun in Mayfair mall’s parking lot. Cole was the third person shot and killed by the Wauwatosa police officer.
“People need to know about these things, especially if you’re in the area,” said Milwaukee community activist Vaun Mayes. “We need to know what happened here, and who our George Floyds are.”
The group gathered in the Kohl’s parking lot on North 124th Street and West North Avenue where several employees handed out pizza and bottled water to marchers.
Mayes said it was exciting to see protests branching into Milwaukee suburbs.
“This is where it needs to go,” Mayes said. “When we come out here, we don’t feel safe and we don’t feel like we can really move around.”
The Wauwatosa protest was among a handful of protests against police brutality scheduled Tuesday despite rain and gusty winds from remnants of Tropical Storm Cristobal.
A car caravan made its way across Hampton Avenue in Milwaukee, while a couple of dozen people gathered at Humboldt Park in Bay View where organizers handed out ponchos.
In Madison, protesters brought yellow paint to write “DEFUND POLICE” on a street that leads to the State Capitol. The message spanned an entire city block and each letter took up the width of the four-lane street, which passes by the administration building of the City of Madison and Dane County.
The idea of significantly reducing or even eliminating funding for police departments has rapidly shifted in recent days from an unlikely ideal pushed by activists to real action being considered by Democratic officials in the wake of Floyd’s death.
Protesters’ message to defund police departments likely won’t get much traction in the state Capitol.
GOP lawmakers who control the Legislature have rebuffed calls to slash funding for police, and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers last week said the idea of greatly cutting or eliminating funding for police goes too far.
Hit-and-run charges
Two people have been charged in the hit-and-run crash that injured two officers and a protester being arrested outside District 5 Police Station last week.
Aaron J. Lumby, 27, of Butler, and Freya U. Nicneven, 21, of Fredonia, are accused of plowing a silver Dodge Caliber with “Black Lives Matter” painted in black on the side into a group of police and protesters around 3 a.m. Thursday.
One officer was thrown onto the hood of the car — driven by Lumby, with Nicneven in the passenger seat — injuring the officer’s ankle and hip. Another officer was struck in the foot.
A 27-year-old man who was being arrested for protesting at the police station had been taken down to the ground by police. When he looked up he saw headlights coming toward him, according to the criminal complaint. The protester, who was not named in the complaint, said “all he could do was curl up in a ball to try to protect himself.”
The protester was dragged underneath the car for about 50 feet before he was dislodged and the Dodge Caliber fled the scene. He was treated for road rash, broken ribs and a spinal fracture.
Lumby was charged with one count of hit-and-run causing great bodily harm, two counts of hit-and-run causing injury and one count of second degree recklessly endangering safety. Nicneven was charged with one count of harboring or aiding a felon.