...and the Other

Despite his occupation, Milwaukee Bucks guard Sterling Brown isn't that different from you and I. It was late. He was tired. He just wanted to pop into a Walgreen's for a couple of things and go home.

Given the hour and the empty parking lot, Brown yielded to temptation and slid his car into a 'Handicapped Only' parking space. He would just be a minute. It being 2 AM on a cold winter night, who was he realistically preventing from using the space?

Fortunately, the Milwaukee Police Department knew better.

The first officer to respond, after asking Brown how he was doing, requests to see his driver's license. The officer continues to advance towards Brown, yet curiously asks Brown to back-up as he places a hand on Brown and appears to lightly push him.

As Brown digs in his pockets, he asks the officer not to touch him. There is cross talk. The officer (later identified as Sgt. Jeffrey S. Krueger), voice rising, asks Brown again “You don't see the issue here?”

Brown doesn't deny that he's illegally parked. He acknowledges the accusations, saying “That's cool, that's cool”. As he hands Krueger his license, the officer radios for assistance and again asks Brown to back-up.

It is impossible to know what distance separates the two men. Judging from a video, it appears to be two or three feet. Nevertheless, Krueger again asks Brown to back-up.

Brown, clearly feeling sufficient space separates the two men, asks “For what?”

Krueger asks incredulously “Are you obstructing me?” The tension is mounting. Krueger again asks Brown to back-up. Brown extends his arms in frustration. “I ain't doing nothing.”

Krueger again asks Brown to back-up. Brown says “I just did.”

After a back-and-forth over who touched who first, Krueger aggressively asserts his alpha-male status as a police officer, saying “I'll do what I want, alright? I own this right here.”

Brown replies “You don't own me, though.”

The encounter is degenerating into a territorial struggle.

At the one-minute mark, there is at last a reference to the driver's license. Krueger asks for Brown's name twice.

“It's on there” replies Brown. “Sterling Brown.”

Krueger, again irritated, says ”I'm asking you.”

Equally irritated, Brown responds “I'm telling you. Sterling Brown.”

Krueger barks at Brown. “These are simple questions, man.” He accuses Brown of coping an attitude. Of using a fake name. Of possessing a fake ID. Of being threatening. Of trying to hide something.

Brown is frustrated that Krueger doesn't believe him.

They again return to the topic of who touched who first and who did or didn't back up. It is a child-like exchange befitting two boys in middle-school.

At the one-minute and fifty-second mark, Krueger again makes the point that Brown is illegally parked, asking “Can you explain this to me?”

For the second time Brown admits his guilt, adding he was “in and out” after Kruger oddly questions how long Brown's car was illegally parked.

I freely admit to being ignorant in the finer points of Milwaukee's handicapped parking statutes, but is being illegally parked for ten-minutes really a lesser crime than being illegally parked for fifty-minutes?

Because my experience (yes, again I have some) it's like being pregnant. You are or you aren't. Has a meter maid or police officer ever inquired of someone how long they were illegally parked before issuing a ticket?

Nope.

With another squad car approaching, Krueger answers Brown's question of what's next with a cryptic “We're going to wait.”

Brown is illegally parked and has freely admitted such. Krueger is cop, with a computer and presumably fully-loaded printer in his squad car. Why isn't Krueger asking Brown to return to his vehicle while he checks for outstanding warrants and writes-up a ticket?

This is where the interaction goes wholly and irretrievably wrong. This is where the Titanic meets the iceberg.

When Brown questions the delay, the now-relaxed Krueger says enigmatically “We're just going to figure it out, man.”

Brown correctly questions what else needs to be figured out before the ticket-writing can commence. Kruger tells him “We're going to figure out what we're going to do. Whether you're going to get tickets...(ominous pause) whatever.”

As a young black man, he seems to instinctively fear the 'whatever'. Brown asks one more question. “You can't do that by yourself?”

It is his last.

Another squad car enters the lot. Police radio chatter is heard. There is a cut in the video. An onscreen message says only that more officers have arrived. Brown is now surrounded by at least five Milwaukee police officers.

One of them yells for Brown to take his hands out of his pockets. When he doesn't immediately comply, they rush him. Brown is wrestled to the ground. There is much jostling. Visually, the bodycam reveals very little.

This because Krueger appears to be standing back from the fray.

The audio isn't much better.

Amid the jostling, one of the cops seemingly suggests using a taser on Brown. Seconds later, another one appears to urgently request it, shouting “Taser! Taser! Taser!” (This might also be a warning that one was about to be employed.)

In either case, the next sound we hear is Brown, groaning. He is obviously in great pain.

The video again fast forwards. Krueger is heard recounting the incident to another officer. He says he wondered whether Brown was in the middle of a medical emergency. If that wasn't the reason he was illegally parked.

He mentions speaking to a third-party about the illegally-parked car. He then claims that the minute Brown exited the store, he was a threat to Krueger. Chillingly, he adds offhandedly “Same thing as before.”

Wow. We can all be grateful we weren't in Sgt. Krueger's path that night.

For six-figure salaries and generous pensions that kick in after a mere twenty-years, we ought to expect a whole lot more from our police than capricious, race-based bullying.

Yes, Brown could have been more servile. And yes, Sgt. Krueger was clearly having a bad day. But the fact remains: there was no reason whatsoever for tasering Sterling Brown.

None.

It was, and is, indefensible.

This is textbook. You want to know why African-Americans don't trust the police? You want to know why Colin Kaepernick (who ironically was born in Milwaukee) has, in all likelihood, sacrificed his NFL career protesting this?

It's right here, ladies and gentlemen.

Sterling Brown—despite cooperating with police and admitting guilt—was gang-tackled, tasered and treated like a gang-banging thug because he is black.

There is no other reasonable conclusion.

Yes, big-city cops have tough jobs. But in addition to be being very well-paid to perform them, they are also officers of the peace; entrusted with de-escalating and defusing potentially volatile situations that threaten the public safety.

I didn't see any defusing. And I certainly didn't see any de-escalation. And I doubt you did, either. I saw a pissed-off cop spoiling for a fight—but only after five of his buddies showed up to stack the odds in his favor.

I have spent the majority of my working life with the public. And across several different jobs with several different employers, there is one constant: don't take it personally. If the last customer was abusive and accusatory, flush it out of your system. Move on.

Never, ever take it with you.

Sgt. Krueger was plainly unable to do so.

It is an outrage that he and his fellow gang members haven't been suspended without pay. They desperately need extensive time-off to examine the baggage they brought to this stop.

And while Sterling Brown is clearly the victim Rose Campbell imagines herself to be. I would offer him—in the gentlest words possible—this advice: next time, remain silent and obey.

You knew you were not a threat. Sgt. Krueger did not. Let him find his way to that truth.

And if he doesn't, there are avenues in which to seek justice.

In the end, what is most ironic is that despite all the chest-thumping and the challenging and the accusations, Brown never got that ticket.

It obviously wasn't a priority.