Excessive force retrial begins for former Wisconsin police officer

MILWAUKEE (CN) — The jury heard opening statements and some testimony on Monday to begin the civil retrial of a former Wauwatosa police officer who shot and killed a teenager in a mall parking lot while on the ground.

On Super Bowl Sunday in 2020, around 6 p.m., Wauwatosa police officers were dispatched to Mayfair Mall for a dispute involving a group of teenagers, one of whom was 17-year-old Alvin Cole. He was described by mall security as a Black teenage male wearing a gray hoodie and a fanny pack containing a handgun.

Officers chased Cole and his friends through the parking lot toward the Cheesecake Factory, where some split off. One officer and a security guard stayed on Cole.

Cole accidentally shot himself in the arm while running and collapsed, according to the incident report written by the Milwaukee Police Department. Moments later, former Wauwatosa officer Joseph Mensah arrived and fired five times, killing him.

No criminal charges followed, but Cole’s parents sued Mensah for excessive force in 2022. The first trial in March ended with a hung jury.

On Monday, the civil retrial began in the Eastern District of Wisconsin federal court with careful jury selection, opening statements and the plaintiffs’ key witness before Judge Lynn Adelman, a Bill Clinton appointee. Attorney Kimberley Motley represented Cole’s estate alongside Attorney Nathaniel Cade and Attorney Annalisa Pusick.

Cole’s parents claim in their complaint that after he fell to his hands and knees, Officers Evan Olson and David Shamsi had control of the scene and chose not to use deadly force.

They say Mensah then ran up, gave no commands and fired five shots, hitting Cole twice in the back and once in the left armpit.

Mensah served as a Wauwatosa officer for five years before resigning in 2020. In that time, he fatally shot three men: Antonio Gonzales, who had mental health issues and refused to drop a sword; Jay Anderson Jr., a Black man who was shot in the head while asleep in his car in a public park; and Cole.

He was cleared of wrongdoing in each case, despite a federal judge finding probable cause to charge Mensah in Gonzales’ death.

Following his resignation, Mensah worked as a deputy sheriff in Waukesha County, another Milwaukee Suburb, for five months before moving on to become a detective in the Internet Crimes Against Children Division, according to his LinkedIn.

He left the force entirely in July, citing mental health and family reasons, four months after the first civil trial.

Mensah did not have time to assess the situation, give orders, or otherwise determine whether deadly force was justified, according to the plaintiffs. Motley promised in opening statements that they would prove the gun was never pointed at any officer, and he had no right to shoot.

“When you are back there deliberating, remember this: In order for Mr. Mensah to be right, every other officer has to be wrong,” Motley said during her opening statement of the case.

Motley encouraged the jury to have respect for the job police officers do while also holding Mensah specifically responsible for his own actions on the night he shot Cole, describing the burden of proof as “50 percent plus a feather.”

Attorney Joseph Worth argued in his opening statement that Cole created a dangerous situation by running from police, pulling a gun from his fanny pack and firing while being chased, justifying deadly force.

FBI Agent David Shamsi, the closest officer to Cole when Mensah opened fire, testified after opening statements. He was the only officer who gave a statement to Milwaukee police department detectives investigating the shooting, according to the investigation report.

Shamsi testified that he saw Cole fall to the ground almost in a prone position with a gun in his hand, facing away from Shamsi himself. He then gave Cole repeated orders to put down the gun and readied himself to use deadly force in case he needed to, but he decided it was not warranted because he did not see the gun move once.

His testimony regarding Cole’s gun and position on the ground contradicts Mensah’s deposition and prior testimony in March, in which he stated that Cole stopped running to turn and shoot at Shamsi and later turned to shoot at him, as well.

Neither Shamsi nor Officer Jeffrey Johnson testified on Monday that they saw Cole turn to shoot at either time.

An investigation into Mensah’s actions in the shootings of Gonzalez, Anderson Jr. and Cole by an independent investigator found that he had violated policy with misleading public statements about the incidents and that, if he remained on the force, he would likely be involved in a fourth shooting.

Mensah is expected to testify to his memory of the events toward the end of the week.

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