Wisconsin DOJ to Investigate Milwaukee Police Beating of Hmong Man

AP The state Department of Justice has agreed to look into the case of a Milwaukee man who claims a police officer used excessive force on him, the Milwaukee County district attorney said Monday.

Koua Moua, a 40-year-old machinist, claims Kelly Parker used excessive force and beat him on the street in February. But Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn has backed the officer, saying Parker feared for his life and the community's safety and had to use force.

Moua has been charged with resisting an officer and driving while intoxicated.

District Attorney John Chisholm said last week that community concern prompted him to look at the case. But on Monday, he asked the state Department of Justice to investigate because his office has already charged Moua. The police department also is conducting an internal investigation.

State Department of Justice spokesman Kevin St. John said the department would evaluate the matter but couldn't comment on the specifics of the case or offer a timeline.

According to the criminal complaint, Parker saw Moua get into a truck on Feb. 17 that matched a description of a reckless vehicle. When Parker ordered him to get out, Moua swore at the officer and said, "Write me a ticket," the complaint said.

At one point, Moua drove backward and trapped Parker between the car and an open driver side door, causing him to be dragged and almost fall under the moving truck, according to police and court records. Parker then hit Moua with his radio one time and pulled him out, struggling with him until other squads arrived, records said.

Moua's attorney Alan Eisenberg disputes that account, saying Parker was not dragged or dragged a foot at most.

His client's injuries also were not equal to what police say happened, the lawyer said. Moua had a broken nose, a skull fracture and a deep gash from his nose to his ear.

Moua doesn't know enough English to have understood Parker, Eisenberg said.

The Shee Yee Community, Inc. organized a march last month in Milwaukee with hundreds of people, mostly Hmong, protesting police brutality.

The Hmong fought alongside the U.S. against Communists during the Vietnam War era. After the war ended in 1975, many of them fled to the U.S. to escape persecution from the Laotian government. They settled in large numbers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and California.

Eisenberg and the Shee Yee Community's Executive Director Kevin Her have compared Moua's case to that of Frank Jude, Jr. Jude is a biracial man whose bloody, beaten face was featured in the media for three years after he was beaten by a group of white, off-duty police officers outside a party.

But Flynn has called the comparison "fraudulent" and says there are no similarities in the cases.

Messages left for Eisenberg and Her were not immediately returned Monday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson said his office was aware of the situation and would wait to consider the case until any state proceedings were finished. [MORE]