A year after an African-American man died while in police custody, one current and one police officer have been charged with crimes associated with his death.
Prosecutors alleged the cops were negligent in his care despite the arrestee’s need for medical attention.
Former Officer Donald Krueger of the Milwaukee Police Department was charged with felony abuse of a person in custody on Feb. 24. Officer Marco Lopez, who is still on the MPD, was charged with misconduct in office by making a false entry, a felony.
Both officers are charged in relation to the death of Keishon Thomas, a 20-year-old man who died of an acute mixture of drugs that included ecstasy, marijuana, and cocaine.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Thomas’ family. The lawyer said, “Keishon’s death could have been prevented if the officers who were responsible for him at the time of his arrest followed the protocol. The role of police officers is to help people, but when Keishon needed help the most, he was ignored and left to die.”
Thomas was arrested on a bench warrant without incident after a traffic stop at nearly 2 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2022. Local station WITI reports that complications began when officers went to remove Thomas from the squad car upon arrival at the police station.
WITI reports that body camera video from one arresting officer shows that when the vehicle door was opened in the garage of the District 5 station, there was a plastic baggie on the floorboard of the compartment Thomas was in and a rock-like substance on the seat next to him. Thomas is shown lunging at the substance on the seat, leading officers to pull him out before he could ingest it.
Thomas would admit to officers before they got inside the station’s booking area that he’d swallowed all the drugs that apparently had been in the baggie, with the exception of the piece on the back seat.
Prosecutors say Thomas was clearly reacting to the narcotic concoction,…
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