The police chief for Milwaukee, Wis. announced on Wednesday that he had fired an officer who recently shot and killed an unarmed man, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Police Chief Edward Flynn reportedly said officer Christopher Manney did not use excessive force, despite shooting the victim 14 times, but that he had violated department protocol for dealing with mentally disturbed people.
The chief said Manney had determined victim Dontre Hamilton was dangerous “based solely on observations of apparent mental illness, absent any overt actions on the part of Mr. Hamilton,” according to the newspaper.
Hamilton was killed on April 30. According to the paper, he had a history of paranoid schizophrenia but was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
Flynn said the officer had violated policy when he responded to calls about a homeless man sleeping in the park. He had come up behind the 31-year-old Hamilton and performed what Flynn called an “out of policy pat-down,” according to the Journal Sentinel.
“This intentional action, in violation of training and policy, instigated a physical confrontation that resulted in a deadly use of force,” Flynn said, according to the paper.
The chief also said the decision to fire the officer was “my decision alone.”
“We’re not talking war crimes here,” Flynn said. “We’re not talking that every cop that makes a mistake has to face grand juries and go to jail, but there has to be a consequence.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney has yet to make a decision about whether to press charges against Manney.
h/t Raw Story
