Federal judge dismisses two of three fatal shooting cases against Joseph Mensah, former Tosa officer
A federal judge has dismissed parts of two of three cases filed against the City of Wauwatosa, former Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah and former police chief Barry Weber by relatives of three people of color killed by Mensah in five years while on duty.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman on Thursday ended two claims – the 2015 shooting of Antonio Gonzales and the 2016 shooting of Jay Anderson Jr. – on summary judgment. Adelman ordered an oral argument between plaintiffs and defendants regarding the 2020 shooting of 17-year-old Alvin Cole.
The three cases, which were consolidated in federal court in September 2022, allege Mensah used excessive force in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment in each fatal shooting.
Plaintiffs, family members of the three people Mensah killed, also alleged in the suit that each shooting was caused by the Wauwatosa Police Department’s failure to train and supervise its officers properly and its practice of condoning and ratifying the use of excessive force. This aspect of the case remains pending.
Gonzales, a 29-year-old from Wauwatosa, was killed on July 16, 2015; Anderson, a 25-year-old from Milwaukee, was killed on June 23, 2016; and Cole, from Milwaukee, was killed on Feb. 2, 2020. Mensah, who resigned from the department in November 2020, was not criminally charged by Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office in any of the deaths. Mensah also was not disciplined after any of the shootings, despite an outside investigator recommending he be fired after Cole's shooting.
Following a motion from an attorney representing Cole’s family, the judge ordered an oral argument with 20 minutes for both sides to speak after conflicting testimonies from officers and witness observations left it unclear whether Cole had a gun in his hands. The oral argument for Cole's case is scheduled for April 9 at 11 a.m. in the Eastern District of Wisconsin Courthouse, 517 E. Wisconsin Ave.
The judge said defendants filed answers four months late to amended complaints in the Anderson and Cole cases, but excused their tardiness and still granted their requested extension of time to file answers to amended complaints in the Anderson and Cole cases.
"The delay will not delay the case," Adelman said in his order.
The judge granted Mensah and the city an extension of time to file answers to amended complaints in the Anderson and Cole cases.
Attorney Annalisa Pusick, who represents the families of the three individuals Mensah killed, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Attorney Ann C. Wirth, who represents Wauwatosa and Mensah, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the judge’s decision:
Police claim Cole had a gun in his hands when Mensah shot him but officers had conflicting testimony as to the position of his body at the time of the shooting and where the gun was pointed.
Witnesses observed Cole without a gun, but Cole’s attorney did not present evidence in court. The footage from the squad car doesn’t clearly indicate what occurred.
In Anderson's case, the judge found that Mensah did not violate Anderson's Fourth Amendment rights.
Mensah testified that he witnessed a weapon in Anderson’s car and ordered Anderson not to reach for the gun and to keep his hands up. Squad car footage showed in the seconds leading up to the shooting, Anderson reached his right hand toward the seat where the weapon was located, according to the judge’s decision.
Contact the reporter at bfogarty@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge throws out two of three cases against Joseph Mensah, Wauwatosa
