"Pat Down" main focus of day two in Christopher Manney appeal

Lieutenant James Macgillis took the stand on day two of Christopher Manney's appeal to get his job back, attempting to explain Milwaukee Police Department's rules on pat downs.

\"An officer needs to have reasonable suspicion to believe that a person is armed with a weapon,\" Macgillis said.

At the heart of this entire appeal is whether Christopher Manney was within his police rights to pat down Dontre Hamilton. The phrase that hangs in the balance is “reasonable suspicion.”

Macgillis explained Manney's reasoning from a previous investigation report, \"bulges, a lot of stuff in his pockets, a lot of homeless have a knife, you need to make sure they don't have knife on them. That's his justification, or part of his justification of doing a pat down.\"

But both Lieutenants James Macgillus and Johnny Sgrignuoli testified that manney's justification was based on hamilton's perceived homelessness against police protocol.

\"Members should approach homeless individuals as they would like any other citizen, homelessness on its own does not constitute reasonable suspicion,\" Sgrignuoli said.

Manney's attorney's countered police saying he approached Hamilton correctly, but was drawn into a fight.

It'll be up to the three person commission board to decide whether Manney correctly handled the fatal situation. Hamilton's family fears an outcome in Manney's favor.

\"We're concerned; I think the public is concerned. I think the chief of police is concerned that he will get his job back,\" Hamilton said.