WAUWATOSA, Wis. — The mother and sisters of Alvin Cole were arrested Thursday night by Wisconsin police cracking down on protesters after curfew.
Multiple people who witnessed the arrests said Tracy, Taleavia and Tristiana Cole were taken into custody shortly after 9 p.m., along with several others.
The city of Wauwatosa was under a 7 p.m. curfew, the second night of protests after Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm decided not to charge Police Officer Joseph Mensah with the shooting death of Cole, 17, earlier this year.
A Facebook livestream taken from inside the Cole car by another daughter revealed a chaotic scene, in which law enforcement officers threatened the use of Tasers while taking Tracy Cole, 48, into custody.
“I’m Alvin Cole’s mother,” Tracy Cole screamed repeatedly as officers pulled her out of her car and handcuffed her, according to the livestream.
“I cant believe y’all did this to me. Y’all killed my son,” she screamed to the officers.
“I can’t breathe,” she repeated.
Tracy Cole said her head was bleeding and she believed her arm was broken, according to the livestream.
An officer responds, “Well, that’s too bad,” according to the livestream.
A statement issued at about 9:20 p.m. by the People’s Revolution said, in part: “It is despicable that the Wauwatosa Police Department would arrest the members of the family of Alvin Cole, who their Officer killed.”
Family attorney Kimberley Motley said Tracy Cole was taken to a hospital, but as of 10:15 p.m., she had not been allowed to speak with her. She said she knows there’s an injury to Tracy Cole’s arm as well as a lump on her forehead.
Motley called the arrest “absolutely disgusting.”
“I can’t speak to my client and I’d like to speak to my client and that’s a problem,” Motley said.
Earlier in the evening, Tracy Cole spoke briefly to the gathered crowd of about 25 to 30 people. She criticized the heavy law enforcement response to a small group of protesters marching through Wauwatosa, less than 10 miles from Milwaukee.
“We ain’t tearing down nothing,” she said.
“The state troops are here with full-body gear ready to tear us down. But you know what? It’s just going to make us stronger,” she said.
Democratic State Rep. David Bowen, who has joined marchers frequently throughout the summer and was with them Thursday night, condemned the arrests.
“It just shows more of this over-aggressive police response, targeted toward people who are advocating for change,” he said.
Jacob Blake Sr., the father of the Kenosha man who was shot by a police officer and paralyzed in Kenosha in July, prompting days of unrest in that city, was with the protesters, but was not arrested.
Wauwatosa police said on Twitter that they had arrested several people for curfew violations, but had not confirmed members of the Cole family were among them.
Contributing: Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Follow Sophie Carson on Twitter at @SCarson_News.
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