'If Frank Jude could be beaten half to death, so can you.'

 

• Racist Milwaukee Cops accused in beating plead not guilty
  

Three police officers accused of beating a man they thought had stolen a badge and wallet during an off-duty party pleaded not guilty to felony charges Wednesday after a court commissioner found there was enough evidence for them to stand trial. Frank L. Jude Jr., of Appleton, took the witness stand and for the first time formally faced the men charged with battering him while he lay face down in the street outside the house where off-duty officers were partying during the early morning hours of Oct. 24. Jude, 26, testified he could not identify the men who delivered the blows that left him with a fractured nose and other injuries. All three defendants, Jon Bartlett, Daniel Masarik and Andrew Spengler, are charged with party to substantial battery. Bartlett and Masarik also are charged with party to second-degree recklessly endangering safety. Masarik faces a third count of perjury. The only other witness at the preliminary hearing, Officer Joseph Schabel, testified he saw all three off-duty officers punch or kick Jude after Schabel and his partner responded to the scene. "Officer Bartlett came in and kicked Jude in the face," Schabel said, adding he heard a "popping and cracking" sound. Schabel said he ordered Bartlett to step back. Spengler "punched him twice in the face," and Masarik kicked Jude in the head, the officer testified. Commissioner Barry Phillips found probable cause to support the charges and set a scheduling hearing for early April.  [more]

Comments

[Phil]

The proof in the Frank Jude Jr. case is abundant--floating around Milwaukee like an airborne disease--driving, walking, and biking throughout the city every minute of every day. The only problem with this disease is that it is silent. The police officers who supposedly "serve and protect" must not have an obligation to be responsible, ethical, honest, or decent human beings. If they did, they would have testified in this case as to what they REALLY saw on the night of October 24, 2004. Frank Jude Jr. did not impose the horrendous scars and bodily harm upon himself.

If I were black, I don't know how angry I would feel about this situation. I don't know how angry I would be at the officers that inflicted the injuries, how angry I would be at the all white jury who just let the three white officers off the hook, or how angry I would be at the police officers who would not tell about what they really saw on October 24th.

What I do know is that I AM white--and I am extremely, extremely angry. This is injustice, and the entire community, regardless of race should be outraged.

[Me]

They all get what they deserve going to a stupid drinking party and acting like morons. Idiots wrapped in morons come in all colors, especially in Milwaukee. Time to move.

[Naomee]

I am so appalled.. I watched the entire trial and cannot believe the verdict... What can we do as private citizens.... There's only strength in numbers... Where can we send protests?

[Patrick B]

Like many places, Milwaukee needs to break the cycle of hatred that occurs between the white and black communities. This verdict has not helped. We expected that there would be enough decent people in the Milwaukee Police Dept (perhaps naively) to testify against the officers involved, but the court case proves otherwise. As a long time resident, I am saddened.

[a]

there are plenty of good cops in the city of milwaukee. a few bad apples don't spoil the bunch. i think that it is wrong of all of us to assume that all are bad when none of us have ever had that job. i could only imagine what it would be like to be a cop- i could not do it.every night these men and women protect us from things that we don't even know go on in the cities that we live in. we were all not there, we can only assume what happened.

[beebop]

well their may be some good cops but they never have the balls to come forward and do the right thing so they are equally guilty in my city of newark, the police are hardly ever seen in the central ward south ward westside, they all stay in the ironbound, a porteguese neighborhood where its not as threatening and hang out by the bars there to stop petty scuffles break out but then when a shooting happens at a club in the black sections ,latino sections, i mean puerto ricans and dominican. they are nowhere to be found, you can smoke weed on the street, sell drugs hand to hand and police do nothing about it.

[Anthony]

Diallo, Rodney, Frank. These are the story that make the headlines. Cowardly cops brutalize people in our country all the time. They make all other officrs look bad. It is time the good officers did some housecleaning: start kicking these psychos out of the units. Turn them over to the people they brutalized under color of law.

[Jamal]

While what these officers did was wrong, no doubt, there is not a shred of evidence to show that this was a racially motivated crime. Just because the agressors are one race and the victim is another doesn't automatically make it so. To inject race into situations like this in a reckless manner will just end up hurting the cause of fighting racism.

[beebop]

its racism, two young black guys come in with two beautiful white woman when the rest of the police are their with their fat overweight wives. thats enough to get them mad 2nd a badge is missing they automatically acuse the colored guys of stealing it when it very well could have been a bad joke by another cop, or he could have lost it, or he just wanted to beat those guys up, anyway you cut it, race was an issue, maybe not the sole issue but a main factor

[Jamal]

You have no idea of the circumstances of the facts, you're just filling in the holes with what you want. You're assuming things about their girlfriends/wives (which you and I both do not have the slightest clue about since we have not met the ladies).

I'm not saying they acted appropriately, doing what they did to ANYONE is criminal in of itself. But these were a few drunken men who acted stupid and drunk. As I said before, to tag racism onto every crime perpetrated on a black man will degrade the true racial injustices that occur.