The city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, has been hit with a federal lawsuit regarding a former officer’s alleged use of excessive force which resulted in the death of a minor. The officer in question has a history of fatally shooting civilians. Over the course of five years, three males have died after being blasted by this same cop.

Office Mensah (left), Alvin Cole (right)

On Thursday, July 28, Tracy and Albert Cole, the parents of Alvin Cole, the most recent person shot and killed by the former Wauwatosa Police Department officer on Feb. 2, 2020, at the Mayfair mall, at 2500 North Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, filed an excessive force lawsuit on behalf of the boy. 

It also claims the boy’s civil rights protected by the 14th Amendment were violated when the officers did not offer him equal protection from harm and were not trained properly to handle stressful altercations with civilians, resulting in the loss of life.

Atlanta Black Star has reviewed the complaint, noting it names the city; the former officer, Joseph Mensah; the force’s ex-chief Barry Weber; and two insurance companies as defendants.

The estate’s attorney, Kimberley Motley, is asking for the court to award her clients an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages, alleging under Weber’s leadership the department poorly prepared officers to operate in a law enforcement capacity. In addition to critiquing the training, it further asserts the former chief did not sufficiently supervise or discipline wayward officers acting against department protocol or policy.

These facts made filing the civil claim of the utmost importance, she claims.

Motley said, “We think that these lawsuits are very important to make sure that Joseph Mensah, former police chief Barry Weber and the city of Wauwatosa are all held accountable for the death of Alvin Cole.”

“This is an important step towards fighting for accountability and fighting for the rights of Alvin Cole’s family and fighting for his right to live,” she continued.

In the court document, Motley refers to Mensah as “one of the deadliest police officers in American history,” who during his first four years and seven months of being a police officer, between July 16, 2015, and February 2, 2020, “killed three young men of color in three separate incidents.”

She referenced by name Jay Anderson Jr. (d. 2016) and Antonio Gonzales (d. 2015), two other men fatally shot by Mensah, emphasizing a pattern within the WPD of violating the civil rights of people they serve based on the color of their skin.

The lawsuit “tells the story of Joseph Mensah’s third victim and a culture of policing in Wauwatosa which championed his indifference for life, callousness towards killing, and racially discriminatory policing towards Black people,” and submits that department had no thorough background checks nor psychological evaluations in place to see if an officer is fit to serve or “deal with high-stress situations.”

She contends Mensah was not — but no systems were in place to make that determination.

Motley chronicles in the lawsuit incidents of overt racial bias starting from 1919 to present day, claiming that as recently as the summer of 2020, “documents from ‘Whites of Wauwatosa’ were distributed stating that “Together we can keep Wauwatosa white. Together we can keep Wauwatosa safe.”

Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said in a prepared statement the presiding judge will review the evidence and side with the city.

“The incident on which this lawsuit is based was traumatic,” McBride wrote. “Nevertheless, based on all the facts of the case, which have been stated in numerous investigations, and on the fact that we’ve received favorable outcomes in related civil lawsuits, we believe this case will be decided for the City.”

Mensah, a Black man like his victims, has never been criminally charged for any of the aforementioned deaths (including Cole’s). After investigating the deaths, District Attorney John Chisholm said the officer acted in self-defense when he shot the young men. 

Still, an independent investigator, reviewing the same data, recommended Mensah be fired after Cole’s demise.

Though the officer never received harsh departmental discipline for the shootings, at times he was placed on administrative leave, he left the WPD to accept a position as a detective in the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department. He joined the agency in January 2021, almost a year after Cole’s death.

On the day Cole was shot, Mensah was dispatched to the mall after there was a report that people were arguing in the shopping center. When he arrived, other officers and mall security guards were in pursuit of Cole and other suspects. 

The lawsuit names Officers Shamsi, Schleis, Johnson, and Olson as witnesses, stating they were present for the entirety of the chase that extended across the Mayfair mall parking lot. 

“Cole who exited the mall from the east end of the building through Nordstrom’s, was chased by police and ran over 1/3 of a mile towards the parking lot south of the Cheesecake Factory,” the filing states.

It further stated while running near the Cheesecake Factory, the teen accidentally shot himself in the forearm. As cops told him to drop the gun, he fell to his knees and allegedly drops his gun.

According to Motley’s account, “Cole was given conflicting commands to ‘drop his gun,’ and “throw his gun,” by officers Olson and Shamsi.

Despite the confusion, the lawsuit alleges two officers at the scene of the incident were in “controlled the situation, knowing that use of deadly force was not warranted.”  

Once he was kneeling, the two officers stood over him. Olson stood on Cole’s right and Shamsi was standing in back of him. 

According to the claim, Mensah ran over to the three, asked no questions, and opened fire on the boy, shooting him five times. Twice while he was kneeling and three times while he was on the ground.

It also states evidence will show one of his fellow officers yelled at him to stop — but it was too late.

A total of 10 seconds passed between Cole’s accidental self-inflicted shot, which emptied his gun, and Mensah’s shots. The lawyer shares, “the first gunshot can be heard at 1:22 [on a recording], while the following shots can be heard at 1:32.”

A former U.S. Attorney released a report that said none of the other officers fired their weapons. It also revealed Cole had a stolen gun and by the time Mensah shot him, it was broken. The federal lawyer also stated the officers did not know the teen’s weapon was inoperable.

There is a dispute about if Cole still had the gun in his hand. The lawyer says he did not, but the U.S. attorney states it was still in his hand when he was killed,

Wauwatosa police did not use body cameras at the time of the shooting, making the puzzle hard to put together. However, parts of it were captured on dashboard cameras, including the sound of gunfire.

Much of the evidence of the shooting will be testimony, and splattered footage and audio captured from the dashboard cameras from the officer’s patrol vehicle. Those cameras captured the gunshots; the one that injured the boy and the one that ended his life.

It was never determined, outside of him possessing an illegal firearm, if Cole had committed a crime.

Cole was 17 at the time of his demise.