In 2018, NBA player Sterling Brown was tackled to the ground and tased by Milwaukee police officers. His crime? Double parking. Three years later, the city has approved a settlement worth $750,000 for the former Bucks athlete.
According to CBS News, the motion was unanimously passed in a 14-0 vote by the city’s Common Council. In January 2018, Brown was approached by a Milwaukee police officer after he double-parked his car in two handicap spots outside of a Walgreens. For some reason, a parking violation led to several more officers arriving at the scene who eventually took Brown to the ground and tased him.
Brown was arrested but he wasn’t charged with any crime. He went on to play a NBA game with bruises on his face soon after the incident. While Brown played for the Bucks at the time of the incident, he’s now a member of the Houston Rockets. Brown filed a lawsuit against the city shortly after the arrest, claiming the officers used excessive force.
Body camera footage of the incident released by the Milwaukee Police Department shows the initial responding officer escalating what was a non-violent situation. An official police report filed by one of the officers alleged that Brown was aggressive and confrontational, but the footage revealed that Brown was calm and compliant throughout the arrest. Brown initially agreed to the settlement last November, but the council only approved it on Tuesday.
In addition to the $750,000, the settlement also includes several policy changes for the Milwaukee Police Department. One such change is that officers must now report anytime they draw their weapon. It is insane to me that this is a policy they are only just now implementing. While Brown’s attorney requested that the settlement include an admission that his client’s civil rights were violated, it ultimately wasn’t included.
“At the end of the day, Mr. Brown wanted to implement policy and he did. And rather than holding out for the admission for himself, changing the future for young people, people of color in this city, was crucial,” Mark Thomsen, Brown’s attorney, wrote in a statement to WDJT.
The policy changes in the settlement will be sent to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission and are expected to be signed by the city’s mayor alongside Brown.