Frank Jude Jr. suffered a brutal beating on a street in Milwaukee's Bay
View neighborhood early Oct. 24. Surrounded by a dozen men, he was
kicked repeatedly in the head, stripped naked and threatened with a
knife, his attorney said.Authorities knew right away who was involved,
but more than three months later no one has been charged or even
arrested. The suspects? Off-duty Milwaukee police officers who claimed
Jude stole one of their badges. The officers said they had to subdue
Jude because he fought with them. Witnesses tell a different story -
that Jude didn't steal anything, that he wasn't resisting, and that the
some of the crowd dragged him out of a truck and beat him maliciously.
Jude was arrested and taken by police wagon to the hospital - no
ambulance was called. Prosecutors did not file charges against him,
instead focusing on the off-duty officers' actions. In connection with
the incident, four off-duty officers were suspended by Chief Nannette
Hegerty, who declined to comment on the pending matter. The
investigation has been slowed by some officers who aren't fully
cooperating, the district attorney said. A secret John Doe
investigation was launched in an effort to get witnesses to talk. Jude,
26, has been interviewed extensively but can't identify his attackers,
said Deputy District Attorney Jon Reddin, the lead prosecutor. "He is
very little help of telling us what happened," he said. "He was beaten
within an inch of his life." Many officers won't tell all they know,
some because they committed crimes, others because of "misplaced
loyalty" to colleagues, said District Attorney E. Michael McCann, who
called Jude's case "horrendous" and compared it to the 1981 beating of
James Schoemperlen, whose skull was fractured by Milwaukee officers
after a car chase. [more] and [more]
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