MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee couple who were swatted 55 times in a single year were paid a $575,000 settlement by the city of Milwaukee last month. The Common Council approved it in May, weeks before the federal lawsuit was scheduled for trial, court records show.
Patrick Tomlinson and Niki Robinson say they endured relentless false emergency calls from 2022 to 2023 that repeatedly sent armed Milwaukee Police Department officers — carrying long guns and ballistic shields — to their front door.
"Every time, you can't not fear for your life to some degree when you have a shotgun racked and loaded, pointed directly at your face," Tomlinson said.
Swatting is a crime in which someone falsely reports an emergency at a specific address to trigger a heavy police response.
Watch Ben Jordan's report in the video player below:
Exclusive body camera video obtained by TMJ4 shows officers arriving at the couple's home on multiple occasions, even as both officers and the couple acknowledged the calls were fake.
In one exchange captured on body camera, an officer can be heard telling a colleague, "This guy keeps getting swatted." In another, a body camera recording from inside a squad car captures an officer describing the address as "a known swatting location."
Despite that awareness, officers continued to respond, at times with a full tactical presence. Body camera video shows one officer pointed a gun at the couple's door on their fourth response in a single day.
"I look at the camera, and there's a ballistic shield. I don't know how many guys behind it," Robinson said. "They're yelling, they're screaming, whatever, there's guns, and I came downstairs with my hands up, and then they pulled me outside, and they searched the entire house."
Robinson said the couple repeatedly pleaded with the department to change its approach.
"You can say that we begged. I mean, we begged them to stop. We went so many times. We emailed everybody. We talked to sergeants and lieutenants and everything, and nothing changed. The only thing that actually changed anything was us bringing a lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee," Robinson said.
Tomlinson added: "Which I will say was our last step. We tried to work with MPD every step of the way."
Court records show the police chief was alerted to the situation in an email from the late Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, who wrote: "This is horrible and needs to be stopped."
A police memo written by an MPD sergeant and obtained by TMJ4 states: "I explained to [Patrick] that we have to respond to calls we are sent and he was not happy with that response."
Tensions eventually boiled over into a confrontation captured on cell phone video, showing Tomlinson surrounded by officers.
The couple's federal civil lawsuit alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment for several unlawful searches and seizures.
"One of the unique things about this case is that we had claims against the individual officers for violating the Fourth Amendment. And the judge concluded that the individual officers violated our client's Fourth Amendment numerous times," attorney John Bradley said.
The couple's lawsuit alleged: "Any rational police force would have implemented some sort of policy to avoid becoming a tool of terror against the very citizens they are sworn to protect."
Attorney Jack Idlas said the case carries a broader message.
"I think they should take away from the story that the Fourth Amendment is still strong, I suppose, as long as you are willing to fight for it, that the police can't harass you in your home without reason," Idlas said.
TMJ4 reached out to MPD for a response. The police chief declined an interview but provided the department's standard operating procedure for swatting, which states: "The member assigned to handle a swatting incident shall file the incident [report]... and send an email to alert the Fusion Division of the incident. The Fusion Division shall then file a Suspicious Activity Report." MPD’s Fusion Division is the department’s intelligence gathering hub that identifies existing or emerging crime patterns.
The city attorney also declined an interview request but stated in court documents that the city denies "that there were no policies implemented and deny the police force has become a tool of terror."
Tomlinson is calling on MPD to change how it handles known swatting victims going forward.
"To listen to our recommendations on how to recognize swatting calls; how to approach situations, nonviolently, without a huge response, without the big guns pulled out. To be able to recognize patterns," Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson and Robinson believe that calling known swatting victims before responding would prevent dangerous encounters and costly settlements paid by Milwaukee taxpayers.
"People have died this way, and it's something that they don't really have to spend much money on," Tomlinson said.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
