Tapes Support Officer’s Use of Force

In the aftermath of a DUI arrest by a Milwaukee (Wisc.) police officer, there were claims from some members of the local Vietnamese community that the officer had brutalized the truck driver. But police chief Edward Flynn countered that the officer struck the driver with his portable radio after the driver accelerated and dragged the officer with the truck’s door. Days before a planned protest march led by an attorney, Flynn released logging tapes of two 911 calls, the first reporting an erratic driver, and the second reporting that an officer needed help, and that she saw someone “trying to run over an officer.” In an extraordinary quote to a newspaper, Flynn said, “We will own up when we mess up, and if we mess up, we will be accountable. But I won’t be a punching bag for a group of people looking to develop a constituency at the cost of a police officer, especially when the life of an officer is at risk.” Read the story and listen to the tapes here.