Proceedings for the inquest trial regarding the July 2011 death of Derek Williams are underway.
The inquest to determine the fault of Williams’ death began Monday. The jurors will view an eight-minute video of Williams in the back of a police squad car saying he can not breathe. The video was released by the Journal Sentinel in September after 10 months of filing public records requests.
In addition to video footage, the jurors will hear testimony from several professional medical examiners and other police officers who witnessed the arrest and subsequent detention.
The police department may face severe backlash if the officers are found at fault, though previous investigations by the Milwaukee Police Department, district attorney’s office and Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission have found the officers involved not guilty. The result and consequences of this inquest and investigation are bound to impact Milwaukee’s future handling of crimes. This incident, combined with four police officers being charged with illegal cavity searches in October, has damaged the reputation of MPD.
Moreover, MPD has a reputation for not answering calls or being receptive to inquiries from citizens and journalists, as evidenced by the department recently eliminating the position of “spokesperson” entirely.
This of course does not mean the department is bad or ineffective. Through all the negative press, we should remember their job is to protect us, the residents of Milwaukee. We should respect the officers and be understanding of the extremely dangerous and difficult situations they experience every day, while pushing for more meaningful communication with the department.
We encourage students to follow this important case and how it will affect our city. We hope this inquest will promote more collaboration between city officials, the police department and citizens.
We also hope the inquest will prevent future incidents like this and will not result in further dispute so the police department can move forward and promote safety without scrutiny or questioning from the people it is supposed to serve. If there are future cases of police misconduct, distrust among citizens will continue. We hope this relationship can be restored with time.
Marquette students encounter MPD from time to time – some more than others. It is important for us not to disregard the contributions of these officers, despite the negative headlines and the tempting assumption to associate the entire department with the situation.
This incident has put Milwaukee in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. We encourage protesters and the police to work together to better our system. If the officers are found to have been negligent, we hope the department will use this as a learning experience and citizens will recognize that the mistakes of few, while horrific in nature, do not define the entire department.
