- Police Brutality Watch

Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin) March 6, 2005 Sunday

Copyright 2005 Journal Sentinel Inc.

By JOHN DIEDRICH and GINA BARTON, Staff, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jon M. Bartlett, the police officer accused of terrorizing Frank Jude Jr. with a knife and kicking him so hard in the head that bones crackled, was accused of using excessive force three times against other black men - one of them fatally - in five years with the Milwaukee Police Department.

Officer Daniel L. Masarik, who is charged with kicking Jude repeatedly in the groin and head, used a Taser stun gun on six suspects in 11 weeks last year. One of those suspects accused Masarik of saying he "enjoyed" beating up the suspect's brother.

Bartlett, Masarik and a third officer, Andrew R. Spengler, were charged last week in the attack on Jude. The criminal complaint says Jude's pants were cut off, his fingers were pulled back, a pen was jammed in both ears, a gun was put to his head and a knife to his throat as he lay facedown in a Bay View street on Oct. 24.

Jude, who is black, said racial slurs were used repeatedly by the white men. Bartlett, Masarik and Spengler respectively face up to 22 1/2 , 19 1/2 and 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted.

District Attorney E. Michael McCann said 10 off-duty officers were at the scene and more people could be charged. Witnesses said a dozen men who identified themselves as off-duty officers beat Jude.

Police Chief Nannette Hegerty has launched an internal investigation that could result in disciplinary action, including firings. She can order the officers to speak, but nothing can be used in the criminal process.

As the most high-profile police beating case in Milwaukee in two decades moves forward, the public will learn more about Bartlett, Masarik and Spengler. But portraits of these men are beginning to emerge from documents and people they've encountered while on duty.

Suspect shot to death

Bartlett, 33, was born in Door County's Fish Creek. He attended a Christian school for at least two years and considered becoming a minister, according to a deposition he gave in a civil suit filed by the family of Larry Jenkins, whom Bartlett shot to death on Sept. 19, 2002.

Bartlett attended the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and dropped out after two years, then taught sailing and windsurfing.

His second wife, Michele, a former Milwaukee police officer who was on the scene Oct. 24, has been granted immunity from charges in Jude's beating and may testify against her husband and the others, McCann has said.

Before Bartlett was hired by Milwaukee police in 1999, he was convicted of trying to escape from police and got less-than-positive reviews from two employers, including a demotion from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Police Department.

In November 1992 in Fish Creek, a police officer tried to stop Bartlett, then 20, for speeding, according to a criminal complaint. Bartlett accelerated his motorcycle to about 80 mph, dodged the officer, then put his bike in a ditch, covered it with branches and headed into the woods. As the deputy discovered the motorcycle, Bartlett gave himself up.

Bartlett pleaded guilty to attempted fleeing and eluding a police officer, a misdemeanor.

He declined to comment about the incident. His attorney, Bridget Boyle-Saxton, said the department was aware of it when Bartlett was hired.

"I don't think it has any impact on his character," she said.

Bartlett worked for the Department of Natural Resources in 1993 but didn't make a great impression on his bosses, according to Bartlett's statement in the Jenkins case. His supervisors there said he had problems with his attitude, he testified.

Similar problems surfaced with Bartlett's next employer, the UWM Police Department, where he started in 1994. He rose from communications operator and security officer to police officer.

His first stint as a police officer was unsuccessful, however. Bartlett was demoted back to security officer before completing a year's probation. His demotion letter states that Bartlett had "failed to exhibit the cooperation, respect and good judgment this Department expects of its Police Officers."

A year later, he was again promoted to UWM police officer, a position he held until being hired by the Milwaukee police.

Anne E. Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Police Department, and Steve Fronk, a hearing examiner for the Fire and Police Commission, which hires officers, declined to comment on Bartlett's hiring.

Three incidents in three months

In a three-month period in 2002, Bartlett - an MPD firearms instructor - was involved in three incidents where he used force, including the shooting of Jenkins.

Bartlett, who has worked for five years in District 7, has no demerits on his record, which was released by the department earlier this year. Bartlett has one commendation, according to his records.

In July 2002, Bartlett and his partner pursued a fleeing armed-robbery suspect, Terrance A. Ward. Ward said that after he was apprehended and handcuffed, Bartlett punched him twice in the face. Testifying in the Jenkins lawsuit, Bartlett said there was an investigation and he was cleared.

A month later, another black man, Karl A. Edwards, said Bartlett assaulted him, according to a complaint he filed.

Police received a call to investigate a man with a gun. It was Edwards, but he didn't have a gun. Two officers responded, patted him down and left. Five minutes later, Bartlett and two other officers arrived, according to the complaint.

"Officer Bartlett assaulted me. While I was being held down by fellow officers, Officer Bartlett gave me a knee to my throat and punched me in the face," Edwards wrote in the complaint, which was later dismissed.

Boyle-Saxton said complaints are filed against every officer.

"Jon Bartlett acted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Police Department; otherwise they would not have been dropped," she said.

On Sept. 19, 2002, Bartlett said, he and his partner stopped a vehicle in which Jenkins was a passenger because Jenkins and the driver were acting suspiciously in a neighborhood known for drug activity, according to Bartlett's deposition. Jenkins, who is black, ran and jumped into a car driven by a friend and carrying his aunt and cousin, according to court records.

Bartlett said he shot Jenkins because he thought Jenkins was trying to run him over, according to his deposition. Jenkins' family said he was on the passenger side, crouching down behind the steering wheel to avoid being shot.

Bartlett was not disciplined or charged in the shooting, which occurred near N. 37th St. and W. Glendale Ave. A review by the U.S. attorney, in cooperation with the civil rights division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., is pending.

Boyle-Saxton said the investigation was initiated because there were several fatal police shootings within a short period of time, not because of her client's actions.

Debra Jenkins, Larry Jenkins' mother, said she is certain that if Bartlett had been held accountable for killing her son, Jude never would have been attacked.

"The citizens, the taxpayers, need to know what, exactly, is going on with those who are supposed to serve and protect," she said.

Police officer from high school

Daniel Masarik, 25, who grew up on Milwaukee's south side, headed for police work as soon as he could. After graduating from St. John Kanty School, he attended Pius XI High School and in his senior year participated in an internship program with a suburban police department, said Pius Principal Rick Pendergast.

"He was not well-known," Pendergast said. "He was neither valedictorian nor in the discipline office."

Masarik graduated from Pius in 1998. From April to August of that year, he worked as a security guard at Hawks Nursery in Wauwatosa, an employee there said. His Milwaukee police personnel record shows that he also worked at UPS as a loader and at a 7-Eleven store in sales. He married two years ago.

On Aug. 24, 1998, Masarik was hired as a police aide, a department training program to groom potential officers. He became an aide the same day as Spengler and Ryan Packard, another officer who was suspended in the Jude incident but was not charged.

Masarik initially worked in central records, also with Spengler and Packard, before moving to the administration bureau and finally to the public information office, where he worked for 18 months, his personnel record shows.

In 2001, Masarik entered the department's training academy and became an officer in District 5, covering the east and near north sides of Milwaukee. His personnel file showed no merits or demerits.

However, two complaints have been filed against Masarik, and both are pending before the Fire and Police Commission. Details of one were not available. The other involved use of a Taser stun gun, what the department calls a "less lethal" weapon, designed to disable uncooperative suspects with a jolt of 50,000 volts.

Masarik was one of 39 officers on the force trained to use the Taser. He shocked six suspects in the first 11 weeks of Taser use on the force, according to records from 2004, the most recent available. That was tied with two other officers for most uses during that time. His attorney said Masarik was the only officer on the late shift in District 5 authorized to use the Taser and he was called to scenes where it was needed.

Police account of Taser use

One of the Taser incidents was April 25 at a party in the 2900 block of N. Booth St.

According to the police report in the case:

Masarik was among the officers called to the scene of a fight with a weapon. He was told that a woman had been beaten inside the home. The officers identified themselves and "due to the nature of the call and information given to (officers)" Masarik and other officers forced open the door.

Antonio Ramirez tried to push officers out the front door, and a struggle followed. Masarik warned Ramirez he would be shocked and Ramirez continued to struggle. He was hit with a Taser and handcuffed. Ramirez, who was "highly intoxicated," continued to struggle with and spit at officers.

Partygoer's account

Ramirez gives a different account:

He was at a party hosted by his brother when a man started hitting women. The man was pushed outside and a fight followed there, but Ramirez and his brother stayed inside, he said. Ramirez said he was drinking but was not drunk.

Ramirez said he and his brother never heard officers knock or identify themselves before they busted through the door and threw them both to the ground for no reason. Ramirez, then 23, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said he didn't resist and didn't even see the Taser before he was shocked and handcuffed. Then, lying on his belly, Ramirez said he heard his brother cry out and turned his head to see what was going on and was shocked again by Masarik.

Later in the squad car, Ramirez said Masarik bragged about brutalizing his brother.

"He said, 'We gave your brother a real good ass-whooping' and something to the effect that he enjoyed it and we are just lucky they didn't shoot us,' " Ramirez said.

'This is my city!'

Ramirez said he asked Masarik if this is the way officers should treat citizens. To which Masarik said: "Whose city is this? This is my city! You see that now?" Ramirez recounted.

Ramirez said he and his brother were jailed for four days on suspicion of aggravated assault but were charged only with obstructing an officer. Both of those charges were dropped. Daniel Ramirez pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, according to court records.

Masarik's attorney, Steve Kohn, declined to speak about the incident.

Guard to police officer

Spengler, 25, was born in West Allis and attended Thomas More High School, played soccer and was on the yearbook staff, graduating in 1997, according to a Thomas More yearbook.

He worked at Pet World as a fish clerk and later at Pinkerton Security as a guard, personnel records show. He was registered as a guard by the state in 1997.

In 1998, he became a police aide for Milwaukee police, working mostly in the traffic section before becoming an officer in 2001 and being assigned to District 7, where Bartlett and Packard work.

Spengler has no demerits or commendations on his record. One citizen complaint was filed with the Fire and Police Commission in January 2004 and was dismissed as "no rule violation." No details were available.

State records show his only court offense is a speeding ticket in 1998 in Milwaukee County.

On Sept. 8, Spengler, who is single, bought a duplex in the 2800 block of S. Ellen St. in Bay View from Holly and Michael Arnold for $175,000, records show.

The loud parties at the home started shortly after Spengler moved in, said neighbor Carolyn Anderson, who also said a Confederate flag was hung in the window. Spengler's attorney denied that a flag was ever hung there.

The Arnolds lived in one unit of the duplex until Oct. 23. Anderson said that hours after the moving truck left, a party started that ended with Frank Jude Jr.'s beating in the street.