MILWAUKEE — A video captured shortly after midnight Sunday morning appears to show a Milwaukee police officer was injured after a personal firework exploded near her during Fourth of July celebrations.
This happened in the Walgreens parking lot near the intersection of Brady and Farwell, near one of the city's entertainment districts overnight.
Video shows a Milwaukee Police Department officer falling to the ground and holding her face after the firework exploded. After a short time, other officers rushed to her side.
Flacko Shahin witnessed the incident and shared video of it.
"Literally all I saw was this thing coming from the air cause it came from over there and it lands and we saw an explosion," Shahin said.
Shahin said the explosion was powerful enough to shake a nearby car.
"It shook the car, the wife was in the car. She thought I got hurt, but I was okay," Shahin said.
Shahin said the area was less crowded than usual when he arrived around midnight, and the incident helped explain why.
"When we got here around midnight it wasn't as busy as it usually is, and that kind of confused us but then when this happened it made sense because it made me go like 'okay' I don't want that hot dog I don't want to be here with all of this going on, I'd rather be at home with the wife and kids," Shahin said.
The incident comes as Brady Street enforces a new pilot program aimed at limiting bad behavior in the area. Shahin said he believes late-night crime and violence stems from young people not having enough to do.
Related | Brady Street launches summer safety pilot program amid concerns from neighbors
"These are all kids that had no where to be and nothing to do and normally they're at Burnham Park buying tacos or god knows where else and last night they ended up here because they had nowhere else to be," Shahin said.
I reached out to Milwaukee Police multiple times Sunday to ask about the condition of the officer. We are still waiting for their response.
This happened just hours before Milwaukee police shot an 18-year-old on Water Street, about a mile away. MPD says the man was fleeing a shooting, and hit an officer with his car. They shot at the car, and was later apprehended by police.
MPD says they will release body camera footage within 15 days, which is department policy.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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