Code of Silence: Milwaukee Police Tell LIES at Brutality Trial - Defenseless, Handcuffed Black Man Beaten by Cops
Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:59PM 
Defense Rests: All White Jury Ready for Closing Arguments [more]
The second of three off-duty Milwaukee police officers accused of severely beating a man testified Monday afternoon that he worked to detain the man, but didn't strike him in the head. Jon Bartlett said he helped other off-duty officers try to arrest Frank Jude Jr. because they thought he had stolen a police badge from the house where they were partying. Bartlett said he struck Jude numerous times in the body in areas police training allows, and that it was the first on-duty responding officer who kicked Jude in the head. Bartlett is accused of holding a knife to Jude's neck, but he said Monday that he did not do that. He did not regret using "justified force" against the alleged victim, whom he characterized as a resistant and hostile theft suspect. Bartlett, 34, conceded that he regretted using a knife to cut Jude's jacket off him, as the 26-year-old struggled against his efforts to detain him. "I don't like the fact that I cut his jacket," said Bartlett, a five-year veteran of the force when he was dismissed in 2005 for his involvement in the incident. "It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."
White Cops Don't Know Nuthin: Earlier in the day, another of the off-duty officers testified he didn't touch Jude. Masarik testified he was aware of the confrontation taking place outside, but in keeping with a pattern of testimony from most other police witnesses at the scene, Masarik also denied seeing any acts of violence against Jude. Daniel Masarik told jurors in Milwaukee County Circuit Court that he was on the phone or was walking in and out of the house when Jude was beaten. A college student who invited Jude to the party made a 911 phone call at 2:48 a.m. to report that several men, including Masarik, were beating him because they suspected him of stealing Spengler's badge from his home. But Masarik's cellphone records indicated that at 2:48 a.m., he was hanging up on his second five-minute phone call with his wife, following a previous call which began around 2:38 a.m. and ended at 2:43 a.m. [more] and [more]
Anti-Snitch Campaign: A police witness in the trial of three former Milwaukee officers broke into tears Thursday while testifying about the treatment she received from colleagues after she implicated the white defendants in the alleged beating of a black man."I was repeatedly called a rat. I had doors slammed in my face," Officer Nicole Martinez Belmore told jurors as she wiped away tears. Belmore testified in Milwaukee District Court Thursday that the apparent retribution began shortly after she reported seeing off-duty officers Jon Bartlett, Daniel Masarik and Andrew Spengler on top of alleged victim Frank Jude, when she responded to a theft call outside Spengler's home at about 3 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2004. While the other officers have testified that they saw the defendants attempt to detain the combative suspect while they waited for uniformed officers to arrive, nearly all of them have stopped short of claiming they witnessed the brutal beating Jude claims he was subjected to. Belmore testified Thursday that after Jude was handcuffed, she saw Bartlett kick the 26-year-old black male in the head, emitting cracking noises from his head, as he lay in the street. She also said she saw the officer hold a knife to Jude's neck and threaten to kill him if he did not give up the badge. Belmore claimed Masarik told her, "I'm sorry you have to see this," before proceeding to raise Jude's leg and kick him twice in the groin, causing him to writhe in pain. The stoic witness turned emotional when she testified how, after the defendants' booking photos were released, someone at the police department stuck copies of them with hearts drawn on them all over her locker. She also recalled that once while patrolling alone, she called for police help, but no one came. [more]- Pictured above: During his testimony, Jude held up the pair of pants he was wearing the night of the incident. Prosecutors allege that Jon Bartlett used his knife to cut them open from the cuff to the seat of his pants. Jude testified that he could feel the blade of the knife pressed near his anus.
- Why in the hell should anyone in the community trust the police department? [more]
- Milwaukee Where is Your Outrage? Invisible Black "leaders" urge calm, no matter what the verdict [more] and [more]
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