Lawsuit alleges Milwaukee cop involved in Bucks player's controversial stun-gun arrest made a joke about doing something similar to JR Smith
- Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown has filed a lawsuit related to his arrest in January.
- According to the lawsuit, one of the officers involved in his arrest made jokes on Facebook about Brown's experience, as well as a joke about wanting to do something similar to Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith.
- The suit also accuses the Milwaukee Police Department and the state of Wisconsin of systemic bias.
Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown has filed a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee, its police department, and the officers involved in using a Taser on Brown in January. Included in the lawsuit are allegations that one of the officers involved, Erik Andrade, bragged about Brown being subjected to the Taser, and that he made comments about wanting to do the same to Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith.
According to the lawsuit, the following post was made either, "... while Mr. Brown remained in police custody or shortly after his release."
Later, following J.R. Smith's blunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the officer posted comments about Smith that referenced the circumstances of Brown's arrest, according to the suit:
According to the lawsuit, other Facebook posts by Andrade bragged about "overtime pay accompanying the use of force" and denied or downplayed issues of police brutality against African-Americans and mass incarceration of African-Americans. The lawsuit also claims Andrade liked or commented on others posts about Brown's arrest.
Andrade was not the only officer mentioned in the lawsuit. The suit alleges Sgt. Jeffrey Krueger previously had "at least eight (8) Use of Force incidents involving his Taser ... including the deployment of his Taser in four (4) incidents that did not result in charges being brought against his victims."
The lawsuit also cites a study indicating that police brutality against African-Americans is particularly common in Wisconsin, claiming that, " . . . over fifteen unarmed African Americans are shot by police officers for every individual unarmed white person shot by a police officer," a number which is "over three times the national average."
You can find the full lawsuit here.