Police said they were justified in arresting the relatives of a black teenager killed by a suburban Milwaukee cop, saying they drove recklessly and refused demands to leave their car during a protest Thursday over 17-year-old Alvin Cole’s death.
Cole’s mother, Tracy Cole, and his sisters, Taleavia and Tristiana Cole, were arrested during the demonstration in downtown Wauwatosa, their attorney, Kimberley Motley, said, The Associated Press reported reported Saturday.
A Facebook livestream that captured only audio of Tracy Cole, 48, was made by a third daughter, the AP said. She could be heard screaming in pain as she was being arrested, saying police injured her arm, hit her in the head and used a stun gun on her.
“I’m Mrs. Cole, Alvin’s mother,” she screamed repeatedly as officers pulled her out of her car.
“I can’t believe y’all did this to me. Y’all killed my son,” she yelled at the officers.
The Coles had gathered with others in Wauwatosa to protest prosecutors’ decision not to charge Officer Joseph Mensah in Alvin’s death. Mensah, who is black, shot Cole after a foot chase outside a Wauwatosa mall in February.
The family was protesting peacefully Thursday when officers pulled them from their vehicles and arrested them for no reason, according to Motley. No family members have been cited or charged, she said.
Police later said the Cole family was among those arrested and that Tracy and Tristiana Cole reported “minor injuries” and were taken to a hospital.
Motley told the AP that the police account is untrue and is a “pathetic attempt to justify the abuse and unlawful arrest of members of the Cole family.” If the police version of events was true, she said, the family would have been cited or charged.
Police said investigators were reviewing the incident and that citations and charges would follow.
Cole was the third person Mensah has killed on the job since he became a Wauwatosa officer in 2015. The city’s police commission suspended Mensah in July and asked former US Attorney Steven Biskupic to review the Cole case. Biskupic’s report Wednesday recommended Mensah be fired, saying the risk of a fourth shooting is too great.
Hours later Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who is white, cleared Mensah of any criminal wrongdoing in Cole’s death. Chisholm’s report noted that officers said Cole pointed a gun at officers and refused to drop it. Chisholm said Mensah could successfully argue he fired in self-defense.
Motley has vowed to file a civil rights lawsuit against Mensah.
