The federal courthouse in Milwaukee.

The second day of the  civil trial in the fatal police shooting of Alvin Cole began Tuesday morning with testimony from Evan Olson, one of the officers  on the scene when Cole was shot  on the night of  Feb 2,  2020. Olson was one of three Wauwatosa officers whose contradictory statements about the shooting formed the basis for the civil suit . Attorneys on both sides grilled witnesses for hours.

Olson, like other current Wauwatosa officers called to the stand, arrived at Milwaukee’s federal courthouse in full uniform. For part of the morning Wauwatosa Chief James MacGillis sat in the gallery. 

Olson said he was friends with officer Joseph Mensah, who has been accused by the Cole family of using excessive force when he shot Alvin Cole. 

On Feb 2, 2020, Olson was one of several officers who responded to Mayfair Mall after reports went out about a disturbance involving a group of boys, one of whom had a gun. When Olson arrived on the scene, Cole and his friends were  leaving the mall and  running from police. Olson approached the mall from the west, cutting off the fleeing teens. After pulling up and getting out of his squad car, Olson approached two boys and told them to “get the [expletive] on the ground”, drew his service weapon and used a flashlight to illuminate the area. 

From his position, Olson could see Cole being pursued in the distance. Unlike other witness officers, Olson claimed that he didn’t see Cole fall to his hands and knees. Instead, Olson said Cole was in a “low, ready” position, which he compared to a sprinter’s stance, or a lineman’s stance in football. Attorney Nate Cade, one of the lawyers representing the Cole family, pressed Olson on what he saw, noting that his testimony was inconsistent with that of other officers. Squad car video of the shooting was played repeatedly in the courtroom on both the first and second day of the trial. Judge Lynn Adelman said that re-watching the video “is quite oppressive, actually,” and asked attorneys to limit how often they played it. 

Olson said Cole, in his “low, ready” position, also had his arm “tucked” similar to a “hug yourself gesture.” He also testified that while Cole was on the ground, he extended a black handgun in Olson’s direction. When Mensah fired five shots at Cole, the teen went flat and prone on the ground, Olson said. 

The officer said he never saw Cole crawling, a detail mentioned by Joseph Wirth, one of the attorneys representing Mensah, during Monday’s opening statements. Olson’s statement to Milwaukee police investigators in 2020 that Cole pointed a gun at him contradicts former Wauwatosa officer David Shamsi, who now works for the FBI. In depositions and on the stand, Shamsi said that he never saw Cole move once he fell to the ground. Shamsi was the closest officer to the teen with just a few feet between them. Mensah — who’s expected to testify on Wednesday — said that the gun was pointed only at him. Mensah was facing Cole from a different position than Olson, who also said the gun was pointed in his direction. 

Attorneys also noted that after the shooting, Olson and Mensah went off alone together for an undetermined amount of time. This interaction violated policies for investigating officer-involved shootings in the Milwaukee area, which state that involved officers should be separated from other witnesses in order to avoid contamination of statements. This line of questioning, however, stopped after a sidebar between attorneys and the judge. 

Video from inside one of the squad cars captured a voice (presumably Mensah’s) yelling after the shooting, “[expletive], I can’t believe I just shot somebody.” Olson, however, said he couldn’t understand what the voice was saying when the video was played back. 

Olson was interviewed once by police investigators after the shooting, and then again months later in the summer of 2020 by the district attorney about what happened, and never mentioned the twisting, tucking, or rolling maneuvers he mentioned on the stand. Under questioning he conceded it was a significant detail to omit. 

After the shooting, Olson said he saw Mensah was distraught, and appeared to get emotional himself as he recalled it. He also testified that Cole didn’t appear to be surrendering, and that once the teen was shot he walked up and kicked the handgun out of Cole’s hand, then handcuffed him as he struggled to breath before he began life saving measures. 

During his time at Wauwatosa PD, Olson attracted controversy to the department after punching a teenager in the face at Mayfair Mall several times. Fox6 News found that prior to the incident, Olson had been suspended for violating department policies such as by speeding, after which former Chief Barry Weber advised Olson that he was on his “very last warning.” In 2021, both Olson and officer Dexter Schleis — who testified in court on Monday —- were also involved in a non-fatal shooting of a teenager who ran from officers with a firearm.

After Olson, the court heard testimony from Sean Kaefer, a filmmaker and director of UW-Milwaukee’s documentary film program. Kaefer testified about squad car video he helped edit and enhance, which was to be shown later that day in the trial. Kaefer said he attempted to lighten the dark video, boost colors, zoom in, remove background noise, and add circles and arrows to point out things in the video such as Cole on the ground and Mensah firing and walking away. “What I do is very little,” said Kaefer. However, he said the video from Wauwatosa’s squad cars was poor quality, and the department didn’t have body cameras prior to the Cole shooting.

Shenora Jordan, principal at Messmer High School in Milwaukee witnessed the foot pursuit and shooting of Cole from her car. Jordan said she heard a shot, saw a boy fall to the ground, and then heard multiple shots which would’ve come from Mensah. Jordan said she saw Cole laying flat on ground after he shot, with his legs in the air kicking as if he was still running, before they slowly lowered.

“I was in disbelief, still in disbelief,” said Jordan, who said Cole never pointed a gun, and that she never saw him with anything in his hands. Later, Jordan said she made a social media post about what she saw, and was contacted by community organizers who advised her to contact the district attorney’s office. Jordan said she spoke with now-District Attorney Kent Lovern, and later was invited to meet Greenfield police investigators at a library in their jurisdiction. Although she told them what happened, and the conversation was recorded, Jordan said she felt the investigators didn’t really care about what she had to say.

Jordan said that neither her husband nor her children, who were in the car with her during the shooting, were ever interviewed by investigators. During her meeting with officers, Jordan drew a map to show  what she saw. When attorney Wirth for Mensah’s defense questioned Jordan, he suggested that she was never in a position to witness the shooting. Wirth played video from two squad cars, which only shows a vehicle matching Jordan’s passing by with others moments after the shooting was over. Jordan took issue with Wirth’s framing. “This is very serious,” she said. “I don’t want to be confused, and I don’t want you to twist my words,” she said.

Dr. Wieslaw Tlomak, chief medical examiner for Milwaukee County, gave lengthy testimony on  Cole’s autopsy, placing stickers on a mannequin to show where Cole was shot. Cole also had blunt force injuries and abrasions to his head. 

Later in the day, Chief James MacGillis returned to watch from the gallery alongside Wauwatosa PD Capt. Luke Vetter. The two sat across the courtroom from Cole’s mother, brother, and sister, Taleavia, whom Vetter has said police monitored for her protest activities after her brother was killed.

By the end of the day, once the jury was dismissed for the day, attorney Wirth attempted to call for a mistrial. Wirth pointed to Jordan’s testimony, accusing her of misrepresenting what she saw and asked the judge either for a mistrial, or to strike her testimony. Attorney Cade countered that Olson directly contradicted testimony from other officers including Shamsi and Johnson while on the stand, arguing that if anyone was manipulating their testimony, it was Olson. Judge Adelman denied the defense’s requests, saying that the jury will get to decide who they believe. “It’s really their call, not mine,” Adelman said. 

This article has been edited to correct the name Shenora Jordan, who was called Shenora Jones in an earlier version. We regret the error. 

Tracy Cole, the mother of Alvin Cole, surrounded by her family. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)

A federal civil trial into the killing of 17-year-old Alvin Cole by then-Wauwatosa officer Joseph Mensah five years ago began on Monday, bringing Cole’s family, Mensah, a cast of current and former Wauwatosa officers, and other witnesses into the U.S. district court building in Milwaukee. The lawsuit accuses Mensah of using excessive force when he fired five shots at Cole in 2020, killing him after a foot chase in a darkened mall parking lot. 

During opening statements, attorney Kimberly Motley said police officers receive  extensive training in use of force under Wisconsin’s  Defense and Arrest Tactics (DAAT) standards. Motley said that when officers fire their weapons they must “articulate each shot” and that Mensah “did not exercise restraint” when he shot Cole. Cole’s case  was  Mensah’s third shooting over a five year period, although attorneys agreed to not bring up that fact during the trial. “We believe that Joseph Mensah did not have the right to shoot and kill Alvin Cole,” said Motley. 

The mostly white jury of seven women and one man listened intently to statements from both Motley and attorney Joseph Wirth who represents Mensah. They recounted the events of  Feb. 2 2020, a Super Bowl Sunday, when  Cole and a group of his friends  got into a verbal altercation with another group of boys at the Mayfair mall. Police were called and the boys fled. Officers later testified that a  single gun shot was heard as the police were  chasing Cole, though they did not see who fired the gun. While Cole was on his hands and knees, surrounded by officers, Mensah fired five shots, later claiming that Cole pointed a gun at him. Wirth said footchases are dangerous and unpredictable and  stressed that the events leading up to the shooting took place over less time than it took the attorney to introduce himself to the jury. He appealed to the jurors saying  they could be sympathetic to the Cole family, while also ruling that Mensah’s use of force was reasonable. “Put yourself in the officer’s shoes,” Wirth told the jury. 

Motley said that Cole accidentally shot himself in the forearm before he fell, breaking his arm in the process. The broken arm would have made it hard for him to aim his gun at Mensah, as Mensah claimed, Motley said.  Also, an officer who was closer to Cole than Mensah said that Cole hadn’t moved at all before Mensah fired. 

That officer, David Shamsi, who’s now an FBI agent, was called as a witness on Monday. Another officer, Evan Olson, who said the gun was pointed in a completely different direction than Mensah claims, is also expected to testify later in the week. The  contradictory statements from officers Mensah, Olson, and Shamsi persuaded U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman that the lawsuit should go to trial. 

On Monday, Alvin’s father, Albert Cole,  recalled dropping his son off with his friends the last  time he would see him.  After Alvin died, Albert became “anti-social,” he testified, Crying on the witness stand, he said  Alvin’s death left a hole in his life and that of Tracy Cole,  his wife of over 30 years. “That hurt was inside me,” he said.

Shamsi testified that he was “tunnel visioned” on Cole’s gun, which he said remained on the ground and didn’t move after Cole fell to his hands and knees in the dark parking lot. Shamsi hadn’t considered whether Cole was wounded and, in fact, was prepared to fire his own weapon if the boy moved again. “I did not see him point a gun at me,” said Shamsi.

During questioning, attorneys noted that Shamsi changed his story when he was re-interviewed about the shooting months after it occurred. It was during that interview that Shamsi said that he saw Cole’s arm extended towards officers. When he was deposed for the civil lawsuit and then on the stand Monday, Shamsi reverted to his original statements that he did not see Cole move after he was on the ground. 

Cole family attorney Nate Cade told Wisconsin Examiner that he suspects Shamsi changed his story after meeting  with Mensah’s attorneys, because  “no one wants to turn around and say that a fellow officer did something wrong.” He said  Shamsi’s testimony that the gun never moved “is the most damning thing.” Cole’s shooting was initially investigated by the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT), before the Milwaukee County district attorney decided Mensah wouldn’t be charged for killing Cole in 2020. A recent investigation by Wisconsin Examiner in partnership with Type Investigations found a pattern of MAIT policies protecting officers and contradictory statements left unchallenged. 

Cade said  “the district attorney looked the other way” and that there were things that investigators “should have done” but neglected,  such as measuring the distance between Cole’s body and bullet casings. “There are no measurements,” said Cade. “None of the officers identified exactly where they were standing.” 

Attorneys also called a civilian witness who’d seen Cole’s group running from police and witnessed the shooting. The witness said that he did not see Cole running with anything in his hands, suggesting that he had not turned his body to point a gun at officers as he ran. Wauwatosa officer Dexter Schleis agreed with Cade that deadly force is allowed if an armed person turns towards an officer, he would not answer directly when asked if deadly force is appropriate when an armed person has their back to an officer, is on the ground and isn’t moving. Schleis repeatedly asked for the question to be repeated, that he didn’t understand, or couldn’t say whether the shooting complied with police protocol.