MILWAUKEE- For attorney Mark Thomsen and his client, Milwaukee Bucks Guard Sterling Brown, their civil rights lawsuit brought against the Milwaukee Police Department is about more than money.
“Milwaukee is at a crossroads,” Thomsen tells WTMJ during an interview Wednesday afternoon, in the midst of a two day appeal by a former Milwaukee Police Officer fired over social media postings he made following Brown’s arrest in January.
Brown was surrounded, and tased, by Milwaukee Police during a confrontation in January of 2018. Officers first approached him when they found his Mercedes Benz illegally parked in a handicap parking area at a Walgreens at 27th and National on Milwaukee’s south side.
Thomsen says the suit by his client, alleging the Milwaukee Police department violated his civil rights, has the opportunity to shift the perception of Milwaukee, and the Police Department, “We can do something that hasn’t been done before, we can set an example for the country.”
Brown was not punished by the Milwaukee Bucks following the incident. A number of police officers involved were put on some sort of administrative leave and went through department mandated training.
