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Milwaukee police chief admits he still hasn't seen all of Sterling Brown's tasing, arrest video

Posted at 7:24 PM, Jun 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-08 06:15:32-04

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said he's still in the process of reviewing body camera footage from the law enforcement officers involved in the tasing and arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown. 

Police last month released 30 minutes of body camera footage, from one officer, showing the arrest.

This month, video from four other body cameras was released to the media

"Those are discoverable to the attorney who's representing (Brown)," Morales said. "They got the raw footage. I wasn't expecting that to come out." 

"I didn't see half the videos, either, I focused on the part with the tasing and the arrest," Morales said. 

Morales said more disciplinary action against the officers involved could come as MPD continues its review of the videos. 

According to MPD documents handed over to Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission, Sgt. Sean Mahnke was suspended for 15 days without pay in connection with the incident. 

The same records show Sgt. Jeffrey Krueger was suspended 10 days without pay. 

An officer was suspended for two days in connection with Brown's arrest, although that officer is not named in the documents. 

Five other officers will have to be re-trained, according to MPD. 

Morales on Wednesday maintained he is working towards better transparency and better relations between MPD and the community. 

"What is our authority when we come into certain contacts? How do we approach our citizens? How do we communicate with them?" Morales said. "Those are all things we're addressing." 

But he also praised his department for taking the initiative to investigate officers' conduct following the interaction with Brown. 

"At the end of the day, Sterling Brown never came forward to give us a statement or make a complaint," Morales said. "This was internally generated, which I commend our police department for." 

Several members of Milwaukee's Common Council have called for a full audit into all activity connected with Brown's arrest. 

Ald. Chantia Lewis is one of them, and said the members are frustrated they were not given all the video up front. 

"I was very disheartened to see that," Lewis said. "I'm not saying Chief Morales did that intentionally, but he needs to ensure we have complete transparency moving forward." 

Lewis said the Common Council needs all available information to make policy decisions and recommendations to the Fire and Police Commission going forward. 

"We have to see everything so that a real solution can be found," Lewis said.