The Milwaukee Police 2nd District Station is facing criticism after some officers have neglected to do their jobs and others that assisted U.S. ICE rogue agents in an arrest failed to follow due process when detaining an undocumented immigrant for a frivolous violation of probation.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
October 28, 2019
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Monday, a witness who video recorded the aftermath of a multiple vehicle crash on early Saturday, October 26, 2019 at the 1300 block of W. Windlake Ave. and was able to get images of the two male suspects identified as Jose Rodriguez and Jesus Israel Rodriguez that fled the scene of a hit-and-run crash confirmed to Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) that he went to provide info at the 2nd police district on Monday about the incident and the officer of person at the front desk failed to take the info and told him he had to return on the third shift to talk to someone else. The witness stated, "I just went to police station and tried to give them the two guys names and they turn me away...They said, I had to wait for third shift to come on and didn't give me no address, no phone number or nothing."
The other incident happened on September 23, 2019 when multiple police officers including a K-9 unit from the 2nd Police District assisted U.S. ICE rogue agents to arrest undocumented Jose Alejandro de la Cruz-Espinosa on frivolous probation violation charge in order to revoke his probation and arrest him at the scene in Milwaukee's Southside. In this incident, ICE agents blocked the De la Cruz family from driving away and wanted to arrest De la Cruz-Espinosa, but they didn't have a federal judicial warrant to extract him from a vehicle, so ICE agents had police revoke his probation at the scene for a conviction of carrying a conceal handgun. De la Cruz-Espinosa's wife and two daughters were in the vehicle as well. Video footage was recorded by several staff members from Voces de la Frontera at the scene and was later released showing police admitting they didn't have a warrant yet and ICE rogue agents didn't have a warrant as well at the time.
During a Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission hearing on October 17, 2019, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales stated that there was an active federal warrant for De la Cruz-Espinosa and that police were assisting ICE agents to make an arrest, but federal courthouse records have no federal warrant filed for De la Cruz and even the U.S. Marshals Office confirmed that no judicial federal warrant was registered with them.
In other words, ICE rogue agents didn't have a judicial warrant to arrest De la Cruz-Espinosa and police officers after arresting him on a state probation violation turned De la Cruz-Espinosa to ICE agents at the scene without processing him on the state probation violation, thus violating De la Cruz-Espinosa's due process as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Wisconsin State Constitution and laws.
The third incident happened on August 28, 2019 at the 1300 block of S. 14th St. where a White male stole a trailer and drove away with it and an outdoor video surveillance camera recorded the theft. The owner of the stolen trailer reported the theft to police and the officer investigating the incident neglected to follow up and get a copy of the video footage of the theft and it was automatically erased before the owner of the trailer got a copy and posted it on Facebook. Apparently, when the owner of the stolen trailer went to turn in the copy of the video to police, he was told that they needed the original video to file a criminal case, eventhough police was able to identify the thief. Police haven't done anything in this case, but they actually went to talk to the thief themselves.
Three incidents that show negligence by certain police officers, failure to investigate an incident and officers violating due process of an undocumented immigrant in state custody under Police Captain Paul Lough from Milwaukee 2nd Police District Station and Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales whose contract expires soon and is trying to get hired for another full term.
Additional info: Fourth incident involving multiple police officers from the Milwaukee Police 2nd District Station, a brief filed in federal court on Tuesday, October 8, 2019 showed Milwaukee police officers including two Supervisors from the Milwaukee Police 2nd District Station at the scene (Walgreens ar the 2600 block of W. National Ave.) who lied, violated the Constitutional rights of Sterling Brown, the victim for parking in a handicapped parking space. It also shows the lack of termination (most officers weren't fired) of any police officers involved that engaged in excessive use of force. Only one officer was fired for posting a racist comment on his Facebook account.
Lack of accountability in the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) today under MPD Chief Alfonso Morales.
These police officers and supervisors became a liability for the City, Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee Fire & Police Commission and should have all been terminated for their illegal actions including lying about what actually happened to Brown who is African-American.
Check out PDF federal brief filing: https://bit.ly/2NrN5pv
The Milwaukee 2nd Police District Station is located in the predominantly Latino community.
The Milwaukee 2nd Police District Station is located in the predominantly Latino community.