Police chief surprised by violence after black officer killed black man

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE

After a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer.

“This was, quite frankly, unanticipated,” Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighborhood on the city’s economically depressed and largely black north side.

The chief’s statement raised questions about whether authorities could have taken steps to curb the violence, perhaps by sharing details of the shooting earlier, including the officer’s race or footage from his body camera.

Randolph McLaughlin, a Pace University law professor and a civil rights attorney, questioned how Milwaukee leaders could have expected the streets to stay quiet on Saturday night given the national debate about law enforcement and race.

“For a mayor to say everything’s fine (and) we just killed somebody, that’s turning a blind eye to his town,” McLaughlin said.

He said Mayor Tom Barrett should have reached out to residents and community leaders and asked, “What do we need to do to make sure your community is safe?” McLaughlin said. “He needs to stay on the job.”

David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis sociology professor who studies police use of deadly force, said it would not necessarily have helped for police to release the officer’s race sooner. He pointed out that the city saw disruptions on Sunday night, after his race had been publicized, though the intensity was less than the previous night.

He also said the city may have hesitated to give the officer’s race sooner for fear it would identify him.

Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in St. Louis, said the officer’s race probably does not matter to many people in the community.

“They see the institution as racist, not the individual,” Cross said. “Once you put on the uniform, you’re blue, and blue sees black as bad.”

Flynn said it was “an error in narrative to assume” that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial “so let’s have a riot.”

Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.

“There’s so much anger in these kids,” Brewer said. The shooting “was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesn’t matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true.”

On Monday, the mayor issued a proclamation applying the city’s curfew to 17-year-olds. Until then, it had applied to teenagers 16 or younger. Barrett also moved the summer curfew back by one hour, to 10 p.m., and warned that the rule would be enforced more tightly.

The problems began Saturday afternoon when police stopped a rental car that was driving suspiciously, Flynn said. Sylville Smith bolted from the car with a gun, leading an officer on a short foot chase before the officer shot the 23-year-old. Police said the man was fleeing a traffic stop but released few other details.

The violence erupted later that evening.