Kenosha Police explain actions in use of force at park

Community members protested outside the Kenosha Police Department Tuesday after video showing officers using force against several park goers.

Latasha Hogan says two of her sons were arrested for disorderly conduct at Lincoln Park on Memorial Day.

She says the conflict began when her son refused to pick up a trash can as ordered by the officer.

\"He wasn't struggling against them,\" Hogan tells CBS 58's April Dvornay. \"The second officer pulled up on the grass and immediately put a taser in his back.\"

When other family members came to the brother's defense, they say force was also used on them.

Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey issued the following statement:

\"We had received two complaints earlier in the evening in reference to large fights and or people screaming and yelling. This has been a frequent complaint/concern in the neighborhood. The officers were told by the supervising lieutenant to monitor the location. I am told there was a confrontation with an officer over the garbage can and who dumped it on the ground and then the teen became disorderly and was arrested for disorderly conduct. This arrest appears to be the arrest that is captured on the below Facebook video. This video was emailed to me indicting that firearms were pointed at the on-lookers. I do not see any firearms pointed at anyone nor was I advised of any of the 22 officers that responded to this incident having their firearms out of the holsters.

The video shows an officer turning towards the individuals telling them to stay back, while they are arresting the subject. There is a Taser in his hand and you can here someone in the crowd say its a Taser. But as you can see from the note after the video link the person indicates firearms were pointed at the on-lookers. I do not believe that to be true.

The first person in the video (being arrested) I believe is a juvenile and is the initial person who had contact with the officer. After his arrest and in an attempt to clear (close) the park, I am told an adult female \"jumped\" on the back of an officer, when her brother an adult was being arrest for obstructing. She was arrested and is one of the subject that you see in the 42 second video being arrested. The other subject is an adult male who is her brother. He was Tased with two 5 second burst and then there were \"focused strikes\" used as he was not complying with officers and refused to remove his hands from underneath him. He was given another 5 second Taser burst and complied and taken into custody.

There were a total of two people arrested and held in jail (the two mentioned above) and there were three juveniles (including the first one and second person - shown in the video) issued municipal court citations for disorderly conduct and resisting/obstructing officers.

I am told the mother of the juvenile was emotionally upset but complied with officers and that others who came or were at the park are the individuals that decided to engage the officers.

I hope this answers your questions. I know the Lieutenant is looking into the incident, (he and two sergeants were on scene) but he advised me that there were in excess of 100 people in the area and that in trying to calm the situation down and what I would call \"triage\" the situation the 5 people, three juveniles and 2 adults, were the ones arrested or issued citations.\"


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