‘That’s F—ked Up!’: Black Father Sues After Wisconsin Cops Violently Arrest Him While Holding His Baby, Threaten to Take Child to CPS After Wrongly Accusing Him of Hit-and-Run
Jermelle English and Shanya Boyd were having dinner at a Wisconsin Applebee’s with their 1-year-old baby in 2023 when police entered the restaurant and violently arrested them on false charges, accusing them of being involved in a hit-and-run accident that had taken place outside the restaurant.
But it turns out they were racially profiled because they were the only Black people in the restaurant at the time. The real suspects had been hiding in the bathroom the entire time and had no connection to the Black couple having dinner.
Earlier this week, English filed a lawsuit against multiple defendants involved in the incident, including five cops, two municipalities, two police chiefs and six companies related to Applebee’s. Boyd had filed her own lawsuit in 2024, which remains pending.
The lawsuits state that Kenosha police were focused on the Black couple and their child after an Applebee’s employee blamed them for being the real culprits, ripping the baby from English’s arms before tackling him to the floor and beating him.
The cops then turned to Boyd, tackling the woman and pepper spraying her. Both were arrested on fabricated charges which were dismissed five months later.
The baby, identified as “T.T.” in Boyd’s lawsuit, was also pepper sprayed and had to be hospitalized. He was handed over to a relative after police threatened to have him seized by CPS.
“Who are you here with?” Officer KevinRoepke asked one of the family members on the scene. The man was instructed by Boyd not to talk to the police officers.
“Without you cooperating with me, I can’t give you this child,” Roepke said. After an angry Boyd said she would only speak to a sergeant, an irritated Roepke replied, “Then you don’t get the child. It can go to f—king services,” as he walked away.
“That’s f—ked up,” noted one bystander.
The two main cops involved in the arrest, Kenosha police officers Michael Vences and Luke Courtier, were suspended for four days and ten days respectively.
Watch the video below.
What Happened
The incident took place on July 20, 2023, while the couple was sitting inside the Applebee’s waiting for their food.
Meanwhile, a hit-and-run accident had taken place outside, with witnesses describing two Black men and a Black woman carrying a child running towards the Applebee’s.
The suspects entered through an unlocked back door and hid in the bathroom, but police did not check the bathroom until after they had confronted the couple.
In fact, another officer from Pleasant Prairie had earlier confronted the couple but left them alone after determining they were not the suspects.
But when Kenosha police officers entered the restaurant, a manager said they had only been there for 20 minutes when timestamps on their receipts showed they had been there for an hour.
According to Boyd’s claim:
Officers Vences and Courtier performed no investigation. They failed to ask the person with managerial authority to allow the officers to view the restaurant’s surveillance video which would have confirmed that Ms. Boyd, Mr. English, and T.T. were not the hit-and-run car crash suspects, and were simply trying to enjoy a meal together at the Applebee’s.
Moreover, Ms. Boyd did not match the description that was provided to police as she was wearing a white t-shirt with a decal, not a red shirt per the description police were provided.
Additionally, Officer Quilling returned to the Applebee’s shortly thereafter, and advised Defendant Officer Courtier that he had previously observed Ms. Boyd, Mr. English, and T.T. at the booth and that they had finished the drinks on their table, and thus could not be the suspects. Officer Quilling repeated this statement two further times to Officer Courtier within earshot of Officer Vences.
‘Malicious Prosecution’
Even after arresting the right suspects, police still transported English and Boyd to jail on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and possession of marijuana, which were all dismissed months later.
Kenosha police then went into damage control, blaming the couple for their own arrest because they refused to tell the cops what car they were driving.
But they had already told the cops they had been there for an hour, and the cops could have easily verified this but refused to do so.
An internal affairs investigation later determined that Vences and Courtier violated numerous policies and were suspended for repeatedly punching English both before and after they had removed the baby from his arms.
According to English’s claim:
Following the incident, English began showing signs of trauma and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which includes constant fear, severe anxiety, depression, and withdrawal from others.
English also developed ongoing neck and back pain, numbness in his arms and legs, and frequent muscle spasms.
English further reported that during the incident, an officer, believed to be Officer Vences, repeatedly struck him in the head and caused his head to make forceful contact with a surface. Following the incident, he developed visible and painful lumps on his head, which persisted thereafter.
These injuries have made it difficult for him to work and have affected his ability to care for his child.
The lawsuits accuse the defendants of violating English’s and Boyd’s Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, unlawful arrest/false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and negligence.
“I lost many friends and family members due to the incident that happened to me,” English told local media this week.
“It made me feel alone. It made me feel like I wasn’t going to be the same again.”