An 18-year-old black man was on his way home after leaving church with his white grandmother and her friend when he was detained and handcuffed by Wauwatosa police because two passersby thought he was robbing the women.
According to the Journal-Sentinel, Wauwatosa, police chief Brian Zalewski said an officer was flagged down by an African American couple who thought the young man, Akil Carter, was robbing two older white women in a blue Lexus. Police video footage show the officers stopping the car with their guns drawn. Carter exited the car with his hands in the air and got on his knees where law enforcement officers handcuffed him out of camera range.
“This is my grandson,” the grandmother said in the police video. “I’m sure he (the person who reported it) saw two white ladies in a car with a black kid and he made some assumptions.”
Attorney Joy Bertrand told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she has requested all documents from the Wauwatosa Police Department about the stop and the basis for the stop and that she has sent a document preservation demand telling police not to destroy anything and to include any notes, text messages and dispatch reports.
“After we take a look at whatever basis they have for stopping and harassing this family, we will be able to comment further,” Bertrand told the Journal Sentinel. “Once we take a look at those documents, we will have further comment.”
