Attorney threatens to sue officers in teen shooting
The attorney for a teen shot by two Wauwatosa police officers earlier this year has said he plans to file a civil lawsuit against the two officers involved in the shooting. This comes in the wake of a decision by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office not to charge the officers.
William Sulton, one of the attorneys representing Demiso Lee, said materials related to the case, including officer interviews that would provide clarity about the incident, are being withheld from the public. The lawsuit’s intent would be to force the release of all materials related to the case.
Lee was shot April 5 after police pulled over what they thought was a stolen car being driven by Lee. The car had previously been reported stolen, but had since been recovered, a fact police were unaware of. Video shows the officers pointing their guns at Lee as they approach his car, then shooting him as he fled.
Police released more than an hour’s worth of video footage on Monday, as well as a three-page incident report and a dispatch recording from the incident, in which officers shot Lee five times outside his car.
The materials were accompanied by a six-page statement the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office explaining that after reviewing information related to the incident, they determined that the use of force was justified. This document can be found at bit.ly/WPDIncidentReport.
But Sulton said more information should have been released that would shed more light on what happened.
Sulton said that those materials would usually have been released already.
“I can tell you that in other cases, the District Attorney’s Office has supplied those materials. But they didn’t do so in this case. And it’s equally alarming because Demiso has been charged with a crime,” said Sulton.
The DA’s Office has charged Lee with a misdemeanor count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person younger than 18.
What happened on April 5?
The video shows Lee as he tries to flee. Lee, who was working for Door Dash at the time, appears to have a phone in one hand and a container of food in the other.
On the video, Officer Evan Olson yells, “Show me your hands. Show me your hands!” and later, “Stop, stop, I said stop! Do not reach for that gun.”
At no point does the video show Lee pointing his gun at the officers, and it is unclear whether at any point he was holding or reaching for the weapon.
However, in a letter, Chisholm said the officer saw the imprint of the weapon in Lee’s front hoodie pocket before he started running.
The report states that as Lee was running, Officer Dexter Schleis heard three gunshots and assumed Lee had fired at Olson. Lee did not fire any shots during the incident.
Schleis then shot at Lee four times, after which Lee fell to the ground. As Lee fled, his gun did fall out of his pocket, but the video shows him being shot while he is lying unarmed on the ground.