27-year-old dies in police custody
A 27-year-old Milwaukee man suffered two medical emergencies and died in police custody after being arrested in connection with a drug investigation Wednesday evening.
Chief Jeffrey Norman had limited information to share during a brief news conference Thursday, but he said two officers have been placed on administrative duty while the West Allis Police Department investigates the incident.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office released a statement saying it is investigating the death as a probable drug overdose. The office said it would release the man’s name after performing an autopsy and notifying next of kin.
Norman said the man was arrested during a traffic stop around 8 p.m. in the 1600 block of South Chavez Drive on the city’s near south side.
The man was taken to the department’s District 2 station, where officers identified he was in need of medical attention. Officers believed the man consumed an unidentified controlled substance, and he was taken to Ascension St. Francis Hospital, Norman said.
The man was later medically cleared by hospital staff and returned to District 2. Sometime later, Norman said, the man suffered a second medical emergency. He was taken to Froedtert Hospital, where he died.
Norman did not have an exact timeline of the events, although the medical examiner’s office noted the man died after midnight Thursday morning.
He said the “specifics of what happened and where” are still being investigated.
The officers placed on administrative duty are 38 and 30 years old, with six and three years of experience, respectively. Norman said they are patrol officers who are part of a “special team” but did not specify any further. He said the role they played in the sequence of events is still being investigated.
The traffic stop, however, was not random and Norman said it was made in conjunction with an ongoing drug investigation.
Norman said the department will issue a community briefing video with further details on the incident in the future.