Wauwatosa mayor hopes to 'move forward as a community' following resignation of Officer Mensah

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Officer Joseph Mensah's time as a police officer with the Wauwatosa Police Department is coming to an end. 

Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said he's hoping the city will move forward and build trust with the police department again. 

"He’s going to have some employment, whether it’s in the police field or not, I’m just going to wish him well," McBride said. 

Officer Mensah has been involved in three deadly shootings in five years. Those shootings sparking protests, and calls for him to be fired.

"It shouldn’t be forgotten, Joseph Mensah is the only officer that has killed anybody in the last 10 years, said Kimberly Motley, attorney for the families of the men killed in the Mensah police shooting incidents.

Officer Mensah signed a resignation agreement both with the city and the Wauwatosa Peace Officers’ Association. His official last day is Nov 30.

"I think it’s a positive outcome on both sides. It allows Officer Mensah to go on with his life and his career and it allows us to move forward as a community," McBride said.

The agreement says Officer Mensah will not be entitled to employment or re-employment with the city. It also says he agrees not to file any claim or lawsuit against the city.

Mayor McBride said under the agreement, Officer Mensah will receive severance payments.

“A little under $130,000. That represents his pay and his benefits from now until 2021 so about 13 months of pay and benefits."

The city also agrees to provide a one-time additional severance payment of $15,000.

“That allows him to go out and find other work and rebuild his working life," said McBride. 

“That is something the public should be very worried about and very concerned about as are the families” said Motley. “There has been studies that have been conducted that has happened to several officers who have been involved in officer-involved shootings who were essentially not criminally charged, not fired from their department have been able to move to a different state or community and enter that police department."

While Motley says she welcomes the news of Mensah’s resignation, she says the fight still isn’t over.

“He should have been fired, so even though the end result of him no longer being on the Wauwatosa Police Department is what we wanted, it is the wrong way to going about doing it," said Motley. 

There is a Police and Fire Commission meeting Thursday, Nov. 19. If the commission approves of his resignation, the mayor says all charges against him will be dropped.