Protesters and the attorney representing the families of 3 men killed by a Wauwatosa Police Officer demanded to be heard at a Wauwatosa city council meeting Tuesday night.
While there was an agenda item related to the claim filed against the city by the family of Jay Anderson, meeting rules didn’t allow for comment. Anderson was killed by a Wauwatosa Police Officer in 2016.
Anderson is just one of 3 men that was killed in shootings involving the same officer. At the council meeting protesters demanded that Officer Joseph Mensa be fired.
Attorney Deja VIshny spoke in behalf of all the families, she asked the Mayor to stray from meeting rules. “I understand how your agenda proceeds, but I would suggest in light of what’s going on you deviate from your normal rules” Vishny said.
Mayor Dennis McBride said the issue would be taken up next week in the Police and Fire Commission meeting. The mayor did allow the attorney and Activist Khalil Coleman to speak to the members of the council present and on video conferencing.
He added “everybody on this council wants racial justice” to which those in the audience shouted back “no you don’t.”
The meeting came hours after protesters and police clashed outside Mayfair Mall. After shutting down the mall for the remainder of the day, protesters moved to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant. That’s steps away from where Alvin Cole was killed in a police shooting in February of this year.
Two men were taken into custody with protesters surrounding the police squad. One of them said “after 25-30 minutes they let us know they were going to be giving us disorderly conduct tickets and then we were released.”
While officers from surrounding agencies were responding to the protest scene, a three car crash happened at the intersection of Mayfair Road and North Avenue. Witnesses said it appeared to involve a undercover police car. An ambulance removed at least one person from the scene.
Wauwatosa Police did not return our request for comment.
