In a controversial move, the Police and Fire Commission in Wauwatosa voted Monday night to set a firm schedule for hearing a complaint against suspended police Officer Joseph Mensah.
But commission members acknowledged the Wauwatosa Police Department has not handed over the records requested by attorneys for one of the three males Mensah shot to death while in the line of duty over the last five years.
Police and Fire Commission attorney Chris Smith drafted the schedule. He told the panel the case should keep moving along.
''These charges were filed in the middle of June. We're now in the middle of August. My opinion is the case has not moved forward very much at all. And I think it does need to move forward, especially considering the employee in question has been suspended, pending resolution or disposition of these charges,” Smith said.
A scheduling order approved Monday night only gives lawyers for the families of Jay Anderson, Jr., until Friday to amend their complaint against Mensah. The lawyers wanted until October. Attorney Kim Motley told Milwaukee TV station CBS 58 that she has not received most of the open records documents, but the police department has billed her more than $5,000 for her request.
The Wauwatosa panel also acknowledged receipt of complaints against Mensah by the families of the other two males Mensah killed, Alvin Cole and Antonio Gonzales. But the commission took no other action, saying that the February shooting of Cole is still under review by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.
