A former Wauwatosa Police Department officer will not face charges for fatally shooting a man in 2016 while he was sleeping in his car. This counts as the third time the officer has been cleared of a fatal shooting in his short career.
The family of the deceased disagrees with the prosecution’s decision, saying the video that the ruling was based on should have been the central piece of evidence.
Last July, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn Yamahiro stated Joseph Mensah negligently handled a dangerous weapon when he engaged Jay Anderson, 25, in June of 2016, and maintained there was probable cause to charge the ex-Wisconsin cop with homicide for the police-involved of the Wisconsin Black man.
However, at a hearing on Wednesday, June 1, prosecutors, after receiving feedback from a mock jury of legal experts, stated they did not have enough evidence to get a conviction and declined to file charges, International Business Times reports.
The prosecutors originally didn’t want to charge Mensah, who is Black, in the case, but the attorneys representing the family were able to force their hands, citing a provision in state law that gave them the right to petition a judge to review the case. NBC News states this statue is rarely used in the Badger State.
The judge then overruled the prosecutors’ decision because he believed, based on the evidence he reviewed, Mensah was mistaken about the course of events.
Mensah claims Anderson, who was found sleeping in his own vehicle in a Milwaukee suburb, was reaching for his weapon when Mensah approached him, prompting the cop to shoot him in self-defense.
Video shows a complicated narrative that is not as cut and dried as the defense or prosecution would have liked. The special prosecutors said the squad video, despite not having audio, showed the crucial period of 18 seconds before Mensah shot Anderson.
This video segment from the incident showed the deceased with his hands up. However, at some point, he seems to reach down toward the direction of a firearm but quickly raises his hands again.
A Milwaukee Police Department report stated the officer noticed Anderson had a handgun in the front passenger seat. Mensah pulled his weapon out and commanded Anderson to put his hands up. Anderson raised his hands, but “on at least four occasions Mr. Anderson started to lower his right arm while leaning toward the front passenger seat where the gun was located,” the report stated.
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