More than a dozen people were injured after a school bus crashed on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, reported CBS News.
The incident reportedly occurred March 10 at approximately 7:30 p.m., when the Rabbinical School bus from Lakewood was heading to New York to attend a post-wedding celebration.
According to the news report, the school bus was seen on its side facing the wrong way on the highway and skid marks were visible on a nearby embankment. There was no immediate information on what caused the school bus to overturn.
The New Jersey State Police said via the article that 15 people, including the 44-year-old bus driver, were treated for injuries. One of the passengers suffered serious injuries. Police said in a statement the 14-year-old boy is fighting for his life after he was pinned under the overturned bus.
The Woodcliff Lake Fire Department was the first to arrive at the scene said Mayor Mike Ghassali in a statement on Facebook. The Montvale Volunteer Fire Department and other firefighters that assisted, lifted the bus and rescued the 14-year-old boy [that was pinned under the bus] and 28 other boys along with two adults.
The 14-year-old, who is fighting for his life, the bus driver and 13 other boys were transported to local hospitals. Their current condition is unclear at this moment.
A Mason County school bus driver was indicted after allegedly driving a bus under the influence of drugs with students on board, reported WOWK News.
The incident reportedly occurred last April, when a 911 call was placed about a school bus driver who was driving erratically and in the opposite lane with students on board. The caller also claimed that the driver made several wrong turns and was falling asleep at the wheel.
A blood analysis the police reportedly took from the bus driver, 54-year-old Leslie Watterson, revealed she had taken three different drugs that affect the central nervous system. Watterson was arrested in May of on warrants filed by West Virginia State Police.
According to the news report, Watterson was indicted March 5 on 54 counts of gross child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury and one count of DUI with minors. The three drugs in her system were identified to be Phentermine, Oxazepam and Temazepam.
A 7-year-old student was left on his school bus earlier after falling asleep, reported Fox 8.
The incident reportedly occurred March 3, when Michael Windle received a call from Coventry Local School District, informing him that his son had been left on a school bus. The child had fallen asleep and did not exit the vehicle with the other students.
Windle claimed the bus driver left and was unaware that his son was still on the bus. No one found the child immediately and he was left on the bus for about an hour unattended in 25-degree weather. Once the boy was located, he was reportedly taken to school. Windle said he was mad and angry, as any father would be.
The district said via the news report that it was grateful the student was safe and upon learning of the situation, district officials launched an investigation to determine how this occurred. The school bus driver has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Additionally, the district reportedly confirmed they have “clear procedures” in place requiring drivers to conduct “post-route checks” to ensure all students have exited the bus. They are now reviewing those safety protocols with all transportation staff to prevent a future incident similar to this one.
Windle told local news reporters the district seemed sincerely upset over the incident. The district stated they are in direct communication with the family and will provide any necessary support.
After a homeless woman died in the Eau Claire County Jail more than a year ago, Wisconsin DOJ has yet to release a report | Getty Images
Silver O. Jenkins, 29, a homeless woman, was found unresponsive in the Eau Claire County Jail on March 12, 2023. The investigation of her death was completed in August 2023 but has not been released pending a Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) review.
It is not clear why the DOJ has taken more than a year to review the death investigation and release it to the public.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation
In July 2024, the Wisconsin Examiner made a record request of the death investigation to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office, the authority charged with conducting the investigation. Sheriff Scott Knudson noted the death investigation had been completed in August 2023 and had been passed on to the Eau Claire Sheriff’s Office, but he was uncertain when the DOJ obtained it.
The completed investigation was not released to the Examiner, because, Knudson said, the DOJ’s review outweighed the public interest in having the investigation released.
Knudson said there was a “balancing test” of “public interest” versus “integrity of the legal system” to “…allow the Department of Justice ample time to make a determination related to the investigation prior to the records being disclosed to the public.”
He added, “Public policy favors public safety and effective law enforcement, which is supported by the decision to deny your request at this time until the Department of Justice has completed their review of the investigation.”
In August 2024, the Examiner submitted another record request to the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office for two items:
All powerpoint presentations produced by the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office which, during 2023 or 2024, were shared with and/or presented to personnel from any Wisconsin District Attorney’s Office and/or the state Department of Justice (DOJ), and which mention or are related to the March 12th, 2023, in-custody death of Silver O. Jenkins at the Eau Claire County Jail.
Any jail security camera footage relevant to the sheriff’s investigation into Silver’s death.
Like the July 2024 request, Sheriff Knudson denied the August 2024 record request based on the same justification he offered in July 2024.
In January 2025, the Examiner contacted Eau Claire County Medical Examiner Marcie Rosas for a copy of Jenkins’ autopsy report. Rosas responded via phone that the report would not be released pending the ongoing DOJ review.
Based on a July 15, 2024 email exchange between the St. Croix Sheriff’s Office and the DOJ, in July 2024, it appeared then that the DOJ review was coming to a close. The email exchange was between St. Croix County Sheriff Captain Tim Kufus and DOJ Assistant Attorney General James Kraus.
“Requests for reports are continuing to come in, when can we expect a decision from your office? We would like to fulfill the requests,” Kufus wrote about record requests on the Jenkins death investigation to Kraus.
Kraus responded, “Now that we have the policies, I hope to complete my part of the case by the end of this month (July 2024).”
Subsequently, the Examiner has submitted several email requests to the DOJ on the review status, but there has been no reply.
Silver O. Jenkins
On March 14, 2023, the Eau Claire Sheriff’s Office put out a press release about Jenkins’ death and noted that she was “…listed as homeless, was charged on February 10 for disorderly conduct and bail jumping,” and added that she was in jail on $500 cash bond and had made her first appearance in court on Feb.14.
Court records also reveal that Jenkins had also been charged with bail-jumping, a misdemeanor and that Jenkins was supposed to have a competency hearing on March 7, but on March 6, that appears to have been changed to March 16, four days after she died.
Jenkins was also cited for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping on Jan. 31, 2023.
From 2019-2023, Silvers had been charged with several violations in Eau Claire County, mostly misdemeanors.
Circuit court records from Eau Claire County show Silver’s address as “homeless,” however earlier court records from Racine and Kenosha counties cite her address as either 618 S. Barstow Street in Eau Claire, the site of The Sojourner House, a Catholic Charities homeless shelter, or 211 Howard Avenue in Racine, an apartment building.
The Examiner has contacted Catholic Charities and other homeless shelters in Eau Claire for anyone who knew Jenkins, but so far, there have been no responses.
A Madison City Schools bus driver in Alabama was arrested after allegedly engaging in sexual acts with a student under 19 years old, reported AL News.
Police stated that 24-year-old Azaria Ashford of nearby Huntsville was arrested last Friday and charged with one count of school employee engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19.
According to the news report, the district received information regarding the incident on Feb. 11 that Ashford allegedly exchanged inappropriate messages with several students. The school district quickly placed her on administrative leave and reported the allegations to the Madison Police Department.
The police department conducted a subsequent investigation, which resulted in the arrest of Ashford. She is no longer employed by the Madison City Schools.
Ashford was reportedly booked into the Madison County jail pending bond. The investigation is ongoing.
A fatal police shooting of an unnamed person in Fond du Lac is under investigation. | Getty Images
During a stop by law enforcement officers Monday night, Feb. 24, in the Town of Fond du Lac, a Fond du Lac County Sheriff deputy shot and killed a person the deputy believed was producing a firearm.
The person’s name has not been released, nor the name of the deputies involved with the stop.
The Wisconsin Examiner’s Criminal Justice Reporting Project shines a light on incarceration, law enforcement and criminal justice issues with support from the Public Welfare Foundation
According to a press release by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), on Monday evening, Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s deputies contacted someone via phone who was known to have a felony warrant.
Law enforcement also received information from a civilian that this same person appeared to have a handgun.
A short while later, deputies located the person in the 6300 block of Cherrywood Drive, near a trailer park.
The person refused to follow repeated commands, and one of the deputies discharged a non-lethal weapon. (The non-lethal weapon was not named in an official statement on the incident.)
The person then produced what deputies believed to be a firearm, and in response, a second deputy discharged a firearm at 6:22 p.m., striking the person.
Emergency medical specialists (EMS) were contacted, and law enforcement and EMS attempted life-saving measures.
The person was transported to a nearby hospital before being pronounced dead.
No members of law enforcement or other members of the public were injured during the incident.
The deputy involved in the shooting is on administrative assignment, per agency policy.
Law enforcement officers involved with the stop were wearing body cameras during the incident.
Additional details are being withheld during the investigation and will be released to the public later.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating the officer-involved shooting, assisted by Wisconsin State Patrol, the Fond du Lac Police Department, and the Village of North Fond du Lac Police Department.
When the DCI investigation concludes, it will turn over the investigative reports to the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s office.
The Dover Police Department is investigating a shooting involving a teen after he was dropped off by his school bus, reported Coast News.
According to the news report, police responded to reports of gunfire on Wednesday afternoon at approximately 2:35 p.m. Investigators determined that a Capital School District bus had just dropped off a group of students from Dover High School, when the accused shooter began chasing a 16-year-old boy before opening fire.
Both individuals, who were not identified at this writing, were reportedly running as shots were fired, but no one was hurt.
The article states that the school bus driver followed safety protocols and quickly left the area to protect the remaining students on board. Police later confirmed that the school bus was not struck. However, there were active threats to the school.
It was unclear why the teen was targeted. Police stated that the victim was not cooperating with detectives and had not even provided a description of the shooter.
Dover police reportedly increased its presence at Dover High School for the remainder of the week.
A driver has been arrested after he struck a New Diana Independent School District student who was crossing the road to board their school bus, reported KLTV News.
The incident reportedly occurred on Monday around 6:30 a.m., when the driver of the vehicle, identified as 56-year-old Jerry Martin, did not stop for the school bus, which was stopped with its red lights flashing.
According to the news report, Martin swerved to avoid hitting the student head-on and ultimately clipped the student with the side mirror. The student’s mother was reportedly present and witnessed the incident. The student, whose identity was not disclosed at this writing, was taken to a local hospital with unknown injuries.
The Texas Department of Private Safety said Martin was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was being held in the Upshur County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
Images of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT) emblem, Taleavia Cole (the sister of Alvin Cole), protesters, riot police, and surveillance vehicles from the 2020 George Floyd-inspired protests. (Photos by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner. Graphic by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)
This story was produced in partnership with Type Investigations, where Isiah Holmes was an Ida B. Wells fellow.
The last time Tracy Cole remembered speaking to her 17-year-old son Alvin, he was at the mall. After she told him to be safe and that she loved him, he asked what’s for dinner. Alvin told his mother, “when I get home from the mall, I want a big plate like my dad,” Tracy recalled of that early February night in 2020.
Minutes after she spoke with Alvin, Tracy said her phone was flooded with worried calls. She recalled breaking news reporting that police had killed someone with a gun at the mall. Tracy couldn’t reach Alvin, so his family started searching for him. Since Alvin wasn’t at the Wauwatosa Police Department, nor the hospital, they tried the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office.
Tracy Cole, the mother of Alvin Cole, speaks during the listening session in Wauwatosa. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)
When the medical examiner invited her inside, Tracy’s whole body went limp. This can’t be happening. That’s not my baby, she thought. Her husband of nearly three decades identified their son, and then wept.
Not long after, two Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) detectives stepped in and asked whether Alvin carried a gun. “None of ‘em ever say ‘my deepest condolence,’” said his mother, who later used her experience as a former funeral home worker to clean and dress her son for the last time.
Although from Milwaukee PD, the detectives actually represented an entity known as the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT). In Wisconsin, investigations into deaths of civilians involving police officers are led by an uninvolved agency to help promote public trust. Since MAIT’s formation about a decade ago, the team has grown to include nearly two dozen neighboring law enforcement agencies which routinely investigate one another. MAIT’s investigations are reviewed by prosecutors who then decide whether officers will face charges for citizen deaths.
Wisconsin Examiner, in partnership with Type Investigations, has found that MAIT’s protocols grant officers certain privileges not afforded to the general public. In a typical civilian death investigation, police interrogate suspects to try to elicit an incriminating response. Officers being investigated by MAIT for civilian deaths, on the other hand:
Are only interviewed as witnesses or victims, unless directed by a supervisor, rather than as suspects, usually without a Miranda warning and in the presence of a union representative or lawyer. In Wisconsin, crime victims are provided specific legal protections in terms of privacy and interactions with investigators — protections that are extended to police officers because of their official victim status after an officer-involved shooting.
Officers may refuse to allow their statements to be recorded, despite MAIT protocols stating it is “accepted best practice” to record all interviews;
Wisconsin Examiner/Type reviewed 17 investigations conducted by MAIT from 2019-2022, including the one that involved Cole. No officers were charged after any of these incidents. MAIT’s investigations rarely result in criminal charges against officers for citizen deaths.
Taleavia Cole in a protest crowd at Wauwatosa’s Cheesecake Factory restaurant in 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Meanwhile, seven families interviewed by Wisconsin Examiner/Type, including the Coles, describe experiencing suspicion, hostility, stonewalling, or emotional disregard from police investigators. Some agencies have also monitored families of people killed by officers, even years after their loved one’s death.
MAIT’s commander, Greenfield Police Assistant Chief Eric Lindstrom, declined to comment for this story, as did a committee that oversees the team. But several of the member agencies responsible for shootings and investigations reviewed in our analysis disputed the idea that MAIT favors officers.
Wauwatosa PD’s spokesperson said in a statement that the department “has full confidence in the impartiality and transparency of MAIT investigations, ensuring accountability to the families involved, the officers, and the public.” A West Allis PD spokesperson said West Allis MAIT investigators “conduct thorough, fair, and impartial investigations which enable a District Attorney to make a finding regarding an incident.”
Cole’s shooting was the first of 10 MAIT investigations in 2020. He was also the third person killed by the same Wauwatosa officer in a five-year period.
Shapeshifting Narratives
Alvin’s older sister Taleavia Cole was still at Jackson State University in Mississippi when she learned her little brother was dead. “It’s been difficult without him,” she told Wisconsin Examiner/Type, four years after her brother’s killing. “Although he was the little brother, he was definitely the big brother…He was a protector. He’s not about to play about his sisters and his mama.”
Taleavia gradually pieced together what happened to her brother by talking to family and friends, and by looking at local news reports. Alvin allegedly flashed a handgun during an argument and fled mall security with his friends as police arrived. Wauwatosa officer Joseph Mensah was one of several responding officers. Mensah chased after Cole and, as they ran, a single gunshot rang out in the darkened parking lot.
Mensah later told MAIT investigators that he neither saw a muzzle flash nor knew who had fired. The radio broadcasted “shots fired,” and Cole fell to his hands and knees. “Don’t move,” some officers yelled while others demanded he “drop the gun” or “throw it.” Then five more shots boomed with dash footage capturing a voice yelling, “stop, stop!”
A Wauwatosa police squad car. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Both Mensah and fellow Wauwatosa officer Evan Olson told MAIT that Cole pointed a gun after he fell. But four years later, a judge determined the officers gave “conflicting testimony.” Mensah said Cole pointed a gun directly at him and did not see it being pointed at anyone else. Olson, who was standing apart from Mensah, said the gun was pointed “westbound” toward Olson.
Meanwhile, Wauwatosa officer David Shamsi didn’t mention seeing the gun raised at all. Squad video that February night captured Shamsi telling an unknown individual, “I didn’t see him have the gun in his hand, it was on the ground.” In July 2020, when he spoke with the district attorney’s office, it appears that Shamsi changed his story, saying he saw Cole “raise his firearm,” according to a Wauwatosa PD administrative review of the shooting.
Shamsi later resigned from Wauwatosa PD while on military deployment. He was later hired by the FBI. In a 2024 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman wrote that Shamsi testified in a deposition that “he [Shamsi] had sight of the gun at all times, and that the gun did not move at any time before Mensah shot Cole.”
Mensah, Olson, and Shamsi all declined to comment for this story via representatives.
Activists hold a candle-light vigil for Roberto Zielinski, who was killed by a Milwaukee PD officer in late May, 2021. This case was investigated by Waukesha PD as part of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT). As in the Alvin Cole case, after Zielinksi’s shooting an officer change his story. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
It wasn’t the only time an officer’s story changed during an investigation of police who killed a citizen. After a 2021 Milwaukee PD shooting, an officer who’d contradicted his partner by telling MAIT that a gun hadn’t been pointed at them later changed his story when talking to the district attorney.
Mensah was the only officer to shoot Cole. As the teen struggled to breathe, officers handcuffed Cole and assessed his wounds. Police and medics soon arrived, and West Allis police officers started a log documenting everyone entering and leaving the crime scene while other officers combed the area for witnesses.
Slipping around MAIT’s protocols
It didn’t take long for the investigation into Cole’s death to diverge from the official procedure. MAIT’s protocols direct supervisors to “ensure that the involved officer is separated from other witnesses and removed from unnecessary contact with other officers.” This is intended to prevent the contamination of officer statements.
Yet at some point that night, Olson became Mensah’s “support officer,” keeping Mensah company and comforting him, even though Olson had both witnessed the shooting and aimed his own weapon at Cole. Support officers are generally tasked with helping fellow police personnel cope with the stress of the job.
After the shooting, according to MAIT investigative reports, Wauwatosa officer Maria Albiter was told by a supervisor to sit with Mensah. Unlike Olson, Albiter had not witnessed the shooting. Albiter told investigators, however, that Olson then came by and said he’d sit with Mensah instead.
MAIT’s interviews with Olson and Mensah neither mention Albiter, nor that Olson and Mensah had been alone together.
Cole’s death investigation doesn’t address this apparent violation of MAIT’s protocols. An internal review of the shooting by Wauwatosa PD denied that there was any evidence of statement contamination due to Olson and Mensah not being separated.
This instance of officers not being separated also wasn’t an anomaly. In six of the 17 MAIT investigations reviewed by Wisconsin Examiner/Type, officers were not separated after a civilian death, and some were captured on camera talking with each other about the incident.
Protesters march in the summer of 2020 in Wauwatosa, one carries a sign with an image of Alvin Cole. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
There were other indications of potential bias related to the Cole investigation. In February 2020, two detectives from nearby Greenfield PD joined the investigative team. One of them was Det. Aaron Busche, then vice president and now president of the Greenfield Police Association. Later that year, as protests mounted against Mensah for his role in multiple shootings of civilians – but before a charging decision in Cole’s shooting had been made – the Greenfield Police Association donated $500 to Mensah’s GoFundMe page, which raised money to cover his legal expenses, despite Busche’s prior involvement in the Cole investigation. Busche did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Officers may refuse to be recorded when interviewed by investigators, making it harder to track inconsistencies or confirm details in their stories.Like every other investigation reviewed for this story, Cole’s file suggests MAIT investigators did not record most of the officers’ statements. Only two officer interviews specify that they were recorded.
MAIT routinely conducted unrecorded interviews with officers. After one September 2021 shooting, every officer who fired a weapon refused to be recorded. In another 2021 case, 80% of all interviewed officers refused to be recorded by MAIT detectives.
Nearly two-thirds of MAIT’s investigations reviewed by Wisconsin Examiner/Type document such refusals. By contrast, MAIT’s protocols state that all civilian witness interviews must “at least be audio recorded” and that investigators “will be equipped with portable audio recorders for this purpose.” While they acknowledge citizens may “refuse to be tape recorded or videotaped,” in practice, civilian witness interviews seem to be recorded far more often than officers.
Both the Waukesha and Wauwatosa police departments confirmed with Wisconsin Examiner/Type that their MAIT investigators did not record officer statements for investigations reviewed for this story. A spokesperson from Milwaukee PD referenced protocols from the Milwaukee County Law Enforcement Executives Association, which state “the officer cannot be forced to give a recorded statement.” Although recorded interviews cannot be forced, West Allis PD stressed that they have obtained voluntary statements from officers “in almost 100% of the cases.”
A West Allis Police Department squad car on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Wauwatosa in December 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Civilians subjected to police questioning face far more pressure. After Cole’s shooting, one 14-year-old boy who was with Cole’s group of friends was questioned by MAIT for over an hour, under Miranda warning and without his parents or a lawyer.
In the interrogation video, detectives asked, “Right before he got shot, what did he do?” The boy replied, “I don’t know…I was worried about me. I was trying to get away…I’m looking back and running at the same time.” Later, the detectives encouraged the boy to “think real hard, and just focus on it,” and said, “you have nothing to owe this guy,” referring to the deceased Cole.
Both detectives repeatedly stressed the importance of honesty. More than an hour and 10 minutes into the interview, after the detectives again asked what happened, the boy replied,
“I’m telling you what I remember. I can’t really tell y’all something I don’t know, because then if I tell y’all something that’s a lie then I’m going to get in trouble.”
– A 14-year-old boy who was interrogated by West Allis detectives during the MAIT investigation into Alvin Cole's death.
When asked about this interrogation, the West Allis spokesperson said the department “follows all laws pertaining to juvenile interviews, including during MAIT investigations.”
The state law that later led to MAIT’s creation aimed to make investigations independent so that a police force is not investigating itself for potential wrongdoing. But Wisconsin Examiner/Type found that in 82% of the cases reviewed for this story, the agency involved in the death also participated in parts of the investigation.
After one Waukesha PD shooting, officers transported weapons they’d fired back to their department before they could be located by MAIT investigators. (A Waukesha PD spokesperson told Wisconsin Examiner/Type that this was accidental, and that officers contacted MAIT once they realized the weapons had been used in the shooting.)
In another shooting by Wauwatosa PD, a wounded woman who’d been shot by officers called detectives, asking why Wauwatosa officers guarded her hospital room and wouldn’t allow her family to visit.
Police block off the scene of where Tinesha Jarrett was shot and wounded by a Wauwatosa officer in December 2020. Jarrett would later call investigators to ask why Wauwatosa officers guarded her hospital room and wouldn’t allow family visits. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
In 2019 after a Milwaukee PD shooting, a Milwaukee detective helped MAIT interrogate the victim’s girlfriend. In another 2021 case Milwaukee PD provided medical assistance to someone fatally shot by Greenfield PD, and then served as the lead MAIT investigating agency, even interviewing its own officers. In other cases law enforcement from involved agencies drafted and executed search warrants for the homes of people killed by police.
None of these activities are strictly against the law, even if they raise questions about the neutrality of the investigators. A Milwaukee PD spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement that in the 2021 Greenfield shooting, its officers were not directly involved in the shooting as defined by Wisconsin statute. Likewise, a Wauwatosa PD spokesperson said that “each situation and investigation conducted by MAIT is unique” and that MAIT works closely with the involved agency to “determine the best approach”, which may include the involved agency “potentially conducting or assisting in the investigation.”
Cole was Mensah’s third fatal shooting over a five-year period. The district attorney’s office declined to charge Mensah in all three shootings, stating that his use of deadly force was reasonable, justified, or privileged. A civil lawsuit filed over Cole’s death in 2022, however, raised questions about the shooting.
After hearing arguments in 2024, Judge Adelman ruled that the lawsuit could go to trial. Explaining his ruling, Adelman wrote, “Based on the conflict between the testimony of Olsen and Shamsi, on the one hand, and Mensah, on the other, it is impossible to know what happened and whether Mensah’s use of deadly force was reasonable.”
Trying to cover something
For families of people killed by police, trust is often broken as soon as detectives walk through the door.
When MAIT investigators came to the Anderson family’s home back in 2016, the Andersons did not yet know that their son, Jay Anderson Jr., was dead.
Around 3 a.m., Mensah had noticed Anderson’s car sitting alone in a park. Anderson’s family says that he’d been out celebrating his birthday a few days early, and was sleeping off the intoxication. MAIT reports state that after waking Anderson in his car, Mensah noticed a handgun beside the 25-year-old.
Less than 30 seconds of mute dash footage captured Mensah pointing his weapon at Anderson, who was sitting in the driver seat with his hands raised. Mensah shot Anderson six times after his hands lowered.
Jay Anderson Sr. and Linda Anderson speak with press in 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Jay Sr. recalled that Milwaukee PD detectives presented a picture of his son “with a big Glock 40 hole in his jaw” so he could identify him. His wife Linda said the detectives never expressed sympathy. Instead, she recalled, they started interrogating the family. “It wasn’t, ‘Oh we’re sorry this happened to your son,’” she said. “It was: ‘Do he smoke? Do he sell pot?’ It was them trying to build a case, from the minute that they killed my son.”
An MPD spokesperson said that it “takes complaints seriously” and encourages anyone concerned about the behavior of MPD officers or detectives to file a formal complaint through the civilian-led Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission.
“It wasn’t, ‘Oh we’re sorry this happened to your son... It was them trying to build a case, from the minute that they killed my son.”
– Linda Anderson, the mother of Jay Anderson Jr.
Years later, a different mother also came away feeling suspicious after her interaction with MAIT detectives. Markeisha Evans who, like the Coles and Andersons, lives in Milwaukee, recalled an unexpected visit by Waukesha detectives. When they arrived on a February night in 2022, the detectives first asked whether her son, Keishon Thomas, lived there. The 20-year-old had gone out that night and she was waiting for him to return. Evans said that the detectives then suddenly asked, “Was he sick?”
Evans said that Thomas was healthy. “After them asking me a number of questions — and this about 15 or 20 minutes in — they tell me my son ‘didn’t make it’” … and that “he passed,” Evans told Wisconsin Examiner/Type.
Milwaukee officers had arrested her son earlier that night on drug charges. Thomas was later found unresponsive in his cell at a district station. Milwaukee PD said that Thomas consumed and overdosed on drugs he’d allegedly managed to hide from the officers who handcuffed, searched, and booked him. Two Milwaukee officers were later convicted on charges related to falsifying cell check reports and neglecting to get Thomas medical attention after he’d ingested drugs. One officer paid a $5,000 fine, avoiding prison time and probation, while the other received probation.
The way the detectives opened their questioning without first saying Thomas was dead lingers in his mother’s mind. “I thought that it was inappropriate,” said Evans. “Almost like they were trying to cover something.”
A spokesperson for the Waukesha PD apologized that detectives made Evans feel this way, but said that detectives must develop foundational information with interviewees, and denied that detectives were looking for a way to excuse Thomas’ death.
Targeting families
Some MAIT agencies have also closely monitored family members who join protests after their loved ones are killed by police.
Taleavia Cole became a regular speaker at protest rallies after her brother’s killing. “She was out there and she was good at it,” Linda Anderson told Wisconsin Examiner/Type. Wauwatosa PD noticed as well.
“She’s a leader or informal leader, and people follow leaders,” Wauwatosa PD Capt. Luke Vetter said during a civil deposition in a lawsuit against the city for their handling of protests.
Taleavia Cole at a protest in Wauwatosa during the summer of 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
The Cole family’s attorney pressed Vetter to explain how a family member who spoke out about her relative being killed by police became a suspicious person to police in her own right.
“We recognize that people will listen to her, and will follow her, and if she has a plan in mind or an event in mind, that she will garner support. And that is something that we have to just be careful of, and watch, and monitor,” Vetter said in the deposition. When asked why Taleavia was considered a threat Vetter described her as “passionate about her position” and that “sometimes she is more adversarial than she should be and I think sometimes groups will follow that.”
Like her mother, sisters, attorneys, and dozens of others including this story’s author who reported on the protests, Taleavia was placed on a “target list,” as Wauwatosa police called it in an email, naming protesters and their allies in 2020. Some MAIT member agencies have also monitored the Coles, the Andersons, and other family members of people shot by police using an internal database that compiles confidential personal information ranging from car registrations to home addresses, criminal histories and more. The Milwaukee PD, which frequently searched the names of Keishon Thomas’ loved ones in this database, said that this is often done to identify contact information and next of kin. The department acknowledged that in at least one instance, a database search was done to identify a loved one of Thomas after “a social media post was discovered.”
Police block a road during the October Wauwatosa curfew in 2020, just after having fired rubber bullets and tear gas. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
On Oct. 7, 2020, the Milwaukee County district attorney announced Mensah would not be charged for shooting Cole. Wauwatosa declared a curfew, anticipating protests over the decision. That night, some in the protest crowd broke windows, and looted a gas station. The following night members of Cole’s family were arrested for violating curfew as they rode in a protest caravan. Police depositions conceded that they were unable to develop probable cause linking the Coles to any destructive behavior.
Taleavia was briefly jailed in Waukesha County and her phone was confiscated by Wauwatosa PD for 22 days. During that time, according to a motion to return seized property filed in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, “her Facebook and Instagram has disappeared,” and her iCloud account with attorney-client information had been “tampered with.”
Wisconsin national guard during the October 2020 curfew in Wauwatosa. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Wauwatosa Special Operations Group Detective Joseph Lewandowski, who was both a MAIT detective and peer support officer and considered Mensah a friend, also identified Wauwatosa’s mayor as one of four “higher value” targets in 2020, due to his perceived support of protests. Interrogating a protester through a balaclava mask emblazoned with a thin blue line logo in 2020, Lewandowski said of Cole and others killed by Mensah, “he chose that. Just like the other ones. They all chose that.”
Lewandowski apologized for his behavior during a civil deposition, and added that “they [Mensah’s shooting victims] still have families and those families are victims as well. And I believe there was a chance that that sight picture was lost.” He also said that police deserve “a baseline of support” and answered in the affirmative when an attorney asked whether public officials should “blindly support the police.” The Wauwatosa PD declined to comment further on Vetter and Lewandowski’s deposition testimony.
Later in 2021, members of the public who were entering court hearings on Mensah’s 2016 shooting of Anderson were monitored by Milwaukee County Sheriff’s drones. Special prosecutors also later said that they declined requests from Milwaukee PD to keep Wauwatosa PD apprised of meetings with the Andersons, so that Wauwatosa could position squad cars nearby. The hearings, initiated under Wisconsin’s John Doe law allowing a judge to review a case where prosecutors already declined to file charges, found probable cause to charge Mensah with homicide by negligent use of a dangerous weapon.
Jay Anderson Jr. (Photo provided by the Anderson Family)
In his ruling, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn Yamahiro blasted the Anderson MAIT investigation. Wauwatosa detectives including Lewandowski interviewed witnesses and attended Anderson’s autopsy. Anderson’s gun and body were also moved from his car before Milwaukee PD arrived to investigate.
“If the goal is to maximize objectivity and minimize bias, it will require a legislative alternative to having local law enforcement agencies investigate each other in officer-involved deaths,” said Yamahiro. “It is unreasonable to ask them [local law enforcement] to turn around and investigate each other in matters as serious as these, and for them to suddenly set those relationships aside.”
MAIT was born in an attempt to improve upon the previous status quo. Stephen Rushin, a law professor and dean at Chicago’s Loyola University, called Wisconsin’s law mandating independent investigations “unique” and “not representative of how most places across the country do it.” Rushin said that other police departments in the U.S. tend to investigate themselves after civilians die in custody or are killed by police in shootings.
But as Judge Yamahiro noted, outsourcing investigations to neighboring police forces doesn’t fix the problem of conflict of interest. Ricky Burems, a retired Milwaukee PD homicide detective, argues that police are indoctrinated to always protect one another. “The issue is police culture in general,” said Burems, who investigated police shootings and deaths during his career. Burems compares the relationship among police officers to the instinctive loyalty between siblings. “It’s truly a brotherhood…We are trained to protect each other.”
Linda Anderson, the mother of Jay Anderson Jr, and attorney Kimberley Motley address media after special prosecutors decline to charge Joseph Mensah. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Burems fears that investigators fail to humanize a victim’s family. “If the lives of the victims were valued as human beings, this could not happen,” said Burems, who testified as an expert witness in Jay Anderson’s John Doe hearings. “If they valued Jay Anderson’s life, Mensah would not have been able to kill Alvin Cole.”
When asked about this characterization, an MPD spokesperson wrote in an email that “we continuously strive to serve our community professionally and respectfully. We also recognize the need for additional resources for victims of crimes, which is why we created two new Victim Specialist positions within our Criminal Investigations Bureau, and hope to fill these in 2025.”
A West Allis Police spokesperson also objected that “the claim that MAIT actively works to protect fellow officers is categorically false, without merit, and without a factual basis. Reckless statements such as this erode trust in the criminal justice system and adversely impacts individuals who heavily rely upon the criminal justice system.”
Oversight and accountability
MAIT’s protocols state that a police agency’s reputation and credibility with the community “are largely dependent upon the degree of professionalism and impartiality that the agency can bring to such investigations,” and that “instances where citizens are wounded or killed can have a devastating impact on the professional integrity and credibility of the entire law enforcement agency.”
Yet the team lacks transparency. MAIT is overseen by a committee made up of eight local police chiefs and members of the Milwaukee County Law Enforcement Executive Association Board. Team members communicate through encrypted chats while the committee holds votes in non-public committee meetings to choose committee leaders, set policy, and decide the team’s future.
Releasing death investigations after a prosecutor’s decision is supposed to offer public transparency. Nevertheless, open records practices across MAIT’s member agencies are inconsistent. The Waukesha PD, for example, has a web page dedicated to its MAIT releases declaring that, “the documents below are posted in the interest of transparency.” Below that line the page is blank.
When asked about the empty web page, a Waukesha PD spokesperson said that it was due to human error when the city’s website was rebuilt and that they are working to re-post the case files.
Leon Todd, executive director of Milwaukee’s civilian-led Fire and Police Commission, said that since MAIT is made up of multiple agencies, “there is no single entity that has oversight over MAIT.”
Families are left with little recourse other than the courts. Yet criminal charges against officers are rare, as are victories in civil court.
“It’s important to not overlook the fact that these suits can often be the only way that people can get any measure of justice in these cases,” said UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz, author of the book “Shielded, How The Police Became Untouchable.” Discipline or prosecution of officers is “exceedingly rare,” said Schwartz, making civil suits “the only avenue, and they’re certainly the only avenue by which a person could be compensated for that wrongdoing. In addition, these suits often are critically important ways of unearthing information about department practices.”
Detective Joseph Mensah testifying in 2025 before the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety in favor of protecting police officers from John Doe hearings. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
After the protests, Vetter briefly served as Wauwatosa’s acting chief before Chief James MacGillis was hired in 2021. Olson resigned from Wauwatosa PD in good standing in December 2023. He now works at West Allis PD, and serves as the treasurer for the West Allis Professional Police Association. Lewandowski was promoted to patrol sergeant at Wauwatosa PD after being disciplined for the higher value target controversy, and was moved out of both the Special Operations Group and MAIT. The Milwaukee PD has repeatedly denied allegations that it surveils the families of people killed by police.
Declining to comment on the Cole family or surveillance they may have experienced, a Wauwatosa PD spokesperson said in a statement that “our focus is on the future” and that the department is “committed to our mission of providing dedicated service and protection to all.”
Taleavia Cole, the older sister of Alvin Cole, addresses a group of protesters crowd alongside Jay Anderson Jr.’s parents in 2020. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Teleavia Cole still has questions about the decisions officers, investigators and prosecutors made in her brother Alvin’s case. A federal jury trial in her family’s civil case is set for March 17, 2025.
Losing Alvin was difficult for the Cole family, yet it also brought them closer. “It was difficult for my parents, but with us being a close family, and with me just being who I am, I’m going to make sure we figure things out,” Taleavia Cole told Wisconsin Examiner/Type. “We want to do more for him,” she added. “We want to tell his story.”
A Tuscaloosa City School bus driver has been arrested after a school bus video footage shows him allegedly assaulting a student with special needs, reported WVTM News.
According to the news report, 74-year-old Samual Jones was taken into custody on Jan. 31 and charged with assault/willful abuse of a child, after a review of school bus footage revealed an incident in which Jones is seen assaulting a student.
The incident reportedly occurred on Jan. 29, when Jones stopped the bus and hit a 17-year-old student. Police stated via the article that Jones is seen in the footage striking the student multiple times with his belt while she remained in her seat.
The transportation staff immediately notified a school resource officer after watching the footage. The officer reportedly contacted the student’s mother and forwarded the evidence to the police department’s Criminal Investigation Division. A warrant was obtained that day. Jones is no longer employed by the school system.
A school bus driver in Jackson Township in Ohio is being hailed as a hero after risking his own life to save others including a dog during a house fire, reported The Washington Post.
According to the news report, 54-year-old Todd Morris, a retired police officer and current school bus driver, was heading home from a doctor’s appointment on Jan. 22, when he saw smoke rising into the sky from a house.
Temperatures that day were subzero, which closed school. Morris was in his personal vehicle when he came upon the fire.
Morris told local news reporters that as soon as he turned a corner, he saw the house of two of the children on his normal elementary school bus route on fire. He stated he knew that the students were off that day as well and probably home.
Morris stopped his car, got out and sprinted toward the house as he dialed 911. He told local news reporters that he started knocking on the door and yelling out the kids’ names.
Because there was no response, Morris said he relied on his police training and kicked in the locked door, forcing an entry into the residence. The smoke was getting heavy, but after a few minutes into his search, he found two terrified dogs.
The dogs taken outside of the home safely and Morris went back in to clear the residence. By the time the kitchen ceiling began to collapse, and the second floor was fully engulfed, Morris evacuated and the fire department showed up to put out the flames.
According to the article, residents Matt Fisher and his wife were at work when the fire broke out. Their four children were with their grandmother, who was taking care of them while school wasn’t in session.
Fisher told local news reporters that once he learned about the fire, he panicked because he knew the dogs were there. The family also had a cat, which did not survive the fire. Still, Fisher said he is grateful to Morris for saving his dogs and alerting authorities of the fire, which remained under investigation at this report.
A school district in Pennsylvania launched an investigation after one of the school buses had a sign prohibiting bus riders from speaking Spanish.
According to local news reports, there were photos circulating around social media on Friday about a Juniata County School District (JCSD) bus prohibiting students from speaking Spanish on board, “out of respect to English only students” per “owner/management.”
The district’s superintendent, Christie L. Holderman, released a statement Saturday stating that the district became aware of the inappropriate sign being displayed and confirmed officials had taken immediate and appropriate action to address the situation.
Holderman added that the district is currently investigating the incident thoroughly and they are ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to prevent something like this happening again.
In the same statement, Rohrer Bus, the district’s transportation management partner, made clear that the bus involved in the incident is owned and operated by a separate entity, whose name was not disclosed in the statement. Initial reports referencing the source of the sign as “owner/management” gave the impression that the sign was authorized by representatives of Rohrer Bus. However, company officials confirmed that the company did not “author or endorsed this statement in any way.”
“As Juniata County School District’s transportation management partner, we have been working closely with District officials to swiftly investigate,” Rohrer added.
“Such language and sentiments are entirely contrary to the company’s values and commitment to fostering a respectful and inclusive environment for all students,” Rohrer continued. “As a precautionary measure, we have suspended the transportation provider involved pending the outcome of an investigation. We recognize the seriousness of this situation and the impact it may have on our community. Rohrer Bus is committed to taking proactive steps to prevent such incidents in the future.”
The owner of a school bus company in New Jersey was sentenced to five years in state prison for endangering students by hiring unqualified drivers, reported Shore News.
The owner of the company, Ahmed Mahgoub, was sentenced on Jan. 23, after it came to light that the company was failing to perform drug tests and conduct background checks on drivers. It was also reported that the drivers were operating unsafe vehicles.
Mahgoub, 65, owned F&A Transportation, Inc., and pleaded guilty last year to false representation for government contract. His company, which operated in multiple counties, including Essex, Passaic, Morris and Union, secured public school transportation contracts worth $3.5 million from 2016 to 2020.
According to the article, an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) and the New Jersey State Police found that Mahgoub hired drivers without valid commercial licenses or criminal background checks.
Some drivers reportedly had criminal records, suspended licenses, or even substance abuse problems. In addition, Mahgoub and his company falsified vehicle inspections forms to cover up safety violations. New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission inspections in 2019 found that nearly all of the company’s buses failed.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said via the article that Mahgoub not only flouted government regulations and standards but also risked the lives of children. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mahgoub and F&A Transportation must pay $500,000 in corruption profiteering penalties and are banned from doing business with the state for 10 years.
F&A co-owner Faiza Ibrahim, 50, also reportedly entered a pretrial intervention and faces her own penalties.
A child and an elderly person were hit by a school bus in Brooklyn, New York, while crossing the street, reported PIX 11 News.
The incident reportedly took place on Friday morning at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Buffalo Avenue in Crown Heights.
According to the news report, the 56-year-old bus driver was turning onto Buffalo Avenue when he struck the 79-year-old and 9-year-old, who were not identified at this writing. The pedestrians were crossing the street, but it was not disclosed if they were in a crosswalk or not.
Both the child and adult were rushed to a nearby hospital in unknown conditions, it is unclear if they are related. The driver reportedly stayed on the scene and no arrests were made at this time. The incident remains under investigation.
A Florida man was arrested after he allegedly exposed himself to students while they were riding a school bus home, reported ABC News.
According to the article, the incident took place on Thursday, when several students told their parents that a male was exposing himself in a car next to the bus.
Police said via the news report that one of the students submitted an anonymous tip, including a video of the incident. The male was identified as 36-year-old Freddy Richie Parisi, and the vehicle he was driving was shown on the video, including the tag number.
The parents reportedly contacted authorities immediately to report the incident and deputies launched the investigation. A detective then identified Paisi from conducting sex offender checks and worked with school resources officers to identify the other victims who witnessed the incident.
According to the news report, Parisi was arrested for five counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition and is being held at the Citrus County Detention Facility without bond.
A crash involving a Waltham school bus in Massachusetts sent six students to the hospital with minor injuries.
The Waltham Police Department released a statement via social media confirming that officers had responded to a rollover incident involving a school bus on Friday morning.
According to police, the bus was transporting students to Waltham Public Schools northbound on Lexington Street just before 8:30 a.m., when it struck a white van that was attempting to make a left turn East onto Beaver Street.
Police stated that the van rolled over onto a third vehicle on Beaver Street, that was stopped for a red light.
According to local news reports, there were 34 students and a driver from the Waltham Dual Language School on the school bus at the time of the incident. A total of 37 people, including those in the other vehicles, were involved in the crash.
Six students and the operator of the white van were transported to local area hospitals for minor injuries. Their current condition is unknown. According to the police, the incident is still under investigation to determine charges, if any.
The Norwalk Community School District in Iowa is investigating a report of a gun on a school bus, reported KCCI News.
According to the news report, district leaders said received a report of a student with a gun on one of their school bus routes. The transportation director tracked down the bus mid-route and took the student off the bus.
Investigators reportedly said the student had a BB gun and district Superintendent Shawn Holloway said the student will not be allowed on school grounds until the investigation is finished.
A man from Opelousas, Louisiana stole a school bus and then drove recklessly causing a four-way crash, reported KATC 3.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday, after a 26-year-old man escaped while being transported to a mental health facility. He then stole an unoccupied school bus and drove recklessly into oncoming traffic.
According to the news report, the man caused a crash involving four vehicles where authorities confirmed several people were moderately injured.
Authorities say via the article that the man ran from the scene and stole a truck belonging to a bystander who had stopped to help with the crash.
Police reportedly tracked the truck to the Rayne area, where the man, who was not identified in this writing, was apprehended.
The man could be facing multiple charges related to the crash. The incident remains under investigation.
A kindergartener from the Hamilton School District in Wisconsin was hit and killed by a school bus on the morning of Jan.2, just two days into the new year.
The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department released a statement confirming the death of the student amid a fatal bus incident.
According to the statement, the Waukesha County Communications Center was alerted to an incident in which a kindergartener had been struck by a school bus in the Silver Spring Intermediate School parking lot.
The bus was transporting students when the incident occurred. The Kindergartener, whose name was not disclosed at this writing, was at Silver Spring Intermediate School awaiting transfer to a shuttle bus to be taken to Willow Springs Learning Center. That’s when the school bus struck and killed the student.
Authorities say the cause of the incident is still under investigation, and the bus driver is cooperating fully with the investigation. This is a developing story.
An Amber Alert the morning of Dec. 5 notified residents of the kidnapping of three children. By 6 p.m. the alert was cancelled, reported WLBT 3.
According to the news report, the three children “were waiting for the bus,” when a black four-door vehicle pulled up to the bus stop and took the children. Authorities confirmed the reported kidnapping took place at the Bobby’s Way apartment complex in Fishersville.
The Virginia State Police said via the article that the alert was cancelled after the children were found safe. Officials said it was determined that the children’s estranged biological mother, Shanice Davidson, was responsible for their disappearance.
Police reportedly believed the children, Jai’Marcus Lewis, 10, Ja’Miyah Lewis, 8, and Ja’Liyah Lewis,6, were with Davidson, who resides in Evergreen, Alabama. Deputies said the 911 call was from the children’s other parent at about 8:27 a.m.
Davidson was described as a 35-year-old Black female, 5 feet 5 inches tall, 184 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. According to the Alabama Highway Patrol and U.S. Marshals Service, Davidson was taken into custody in Birmingham Alabama, after a brief pursuit along Interstate 495.
Davidson was reportedly arrested on abduction warrants from the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. The incident remains under investigation.
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