MILWAUKEE
Another Black man dies in police custody
By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Milwaukee
One can't possibly imagine the terror Mario Mallett felt in
his last few minutes on Dec. 27 as, according to eyewitnesses,
he lay face down, pepper sprayed and handcuffed, in the back of
a barren police van on a bitter cold winter day.
Mallett, a 29-year-old African American son, father, brother
and husband, never made it out of police custody alive--like
dozens of other victims of the Milwaukee police.
For six days the Milwaukee Police Department refused to
release Mallet's name to the press or public, evoking outrage
from the African American community. The community only learned
his name upon the release of the medical examiner's preliminary
report on Jan. 2.
In the early evening hours of Dec. 27, police were called to
27th and Lisbon streets in the heart of Milwaukee's African
American community. According to police accounts, Mallett had
no jacket on and was running in and out of traffic erratically.
Upon making contact with Mallett, the police claim he fought
with them and grabbed for a shotgun in a police car while
biting an officer.
The police admit pepper spraying, subduing and handcuffing
Mallett behind his back. But this is where police and
eyewitness accounts diverge.
The police say they placed Mallett in a police van in a
sitting position secured with a seatbelt, but didn't monitor
him--a violation of Milwaukee police policy.
Eyewitnesses--including two sisters aged 12 and 17 who watched
from their home across the street--say the police forcibly
subdued Mallett and placed him face down in the police van.
They say that Mallett didn't grab for the shotgun and only
seemed a little tense--not out-of-control as the police
claim.
Other witnesses say Mallett was in the street trying to gain
control of a pet dog that had gone astray. Upon arrival at a
local hospital, Mallett had no pulse and was not breathing. He
was pronounced dead moments later.
On Jan. 8 Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Jeffrey Jentzen
issued a final report that stated Mallett died from cardiac
arrhythmia or "acute exhaustive mania," which can't be proven.
No independent autopsy was conducted.
At a scheduled press conference, Jentzen claimed Mallett
became so agitated when scuffling with police that his heart
developed an arrhythmia and ceased to function sometime after
he was put in the van. Jentzen admitted Mallett never had a
heart problem. He also said that an undiagnosed sickle cell
trait and cold weather played a part in his death.
Mallett's mother, widow and friends challenged this
immediately. They said Mallett had never had any health
problems. In fact, Mallett was in top shape, working as a
construction worker. He was also a former semi-pro football
player.
Mallet's widow has requested an inquest, which will take
place in the coming weeks, and has hired counsel with the aim
of filing a civil suit against the city.
The African American community and its allies have been
conducting their own investigation into what they see as
another murder cover-up by the Milwaukee police, City Hall and
the district attorney's office.
The Coalition of Justice for Mario Mallett has demanded that
the police be charged with Mallett's murder and is seeking a
community investigation into the racist terror policies of the
Milwaukee police, which are sanctioned by the city's ruling
class. Over 30 Milwaukee residents--the majority poor African
American and Latino--have died either in police custody or in
contact with the cops since 1990.
Nationally, over 2,000 people have died in this manner since
1990, according to the book "Stolen Lives: Killed by Law
Enforcement," published by the Oct. 22nd Coalition to Stop
Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a
Generation.
Reprinted from the Jan. 24, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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