A 2018 Porsche 911 burned in rural Paraná, Brazil, over the weekend.
Police say security footage shows the owner setting it on fire himself.
The car had outstanding tax debts, and the case is under investigation.
Imagine the feeling of getting a call from the police that they’ve found your stolen Porsche 911, but that it’s been burned to the ground. No doubt, that would be rough for anyone, but for one man in Brazil, the call got even worse, because police think he’s the one who did it – and it seems like the video evidence they possess is pretty convincing.
The incident happened in Lapa, a rural town in the Curitiba metro region of Brazil. According to local outlet G1.globo, the owner told the police that he was the subject of an ambush.
Armed individuals in a truck stole his car with him in it, drove it down a deserted road, and then set it on fire. In fact, he went to the hospital for burns, which initially seemed like clear evidence of his credibility.
Caught on Camera
State Highway Police didn’t just take the man at his word, though. It turns out that of all the rural roads in the area, the place where the Porsche burned down, just happens to have a security camera nearby.
Police say that the man who walks up to the car and sets it on fire bears a striking resemblance to the owner. The clothes even matched, and police think they know what the motive was, too.
Evidently, the 911 in question, reportedly worth around R$700,000 (roughly $120,000 USD) was subject to expensive unpaid tax debts. The Civil Police in the area confirm that the situation is under investigation of being a false crime report. That said, they haven’t released the name of the owner, nor have they made any arrests.
A Fiery Mistake
Video from the scene doesn’t show any kidnappers, a truck, or anyone other than the man who allegedly sets the car on fire. Whoever it is seems to stop and take a moment to consider what they’re about to do before lighting some sort of accelerant in the Porsche. The fire is so violent at first that the man in question recoils as it grazes him.
It’s unclear where the case will go from here, but hopefully justice will be served. If this owner did indeed set his very special car on fire in front of the only camera within miles, it feels like karmic justice.
The Wisconsin State Patrol and the Wisconsin School Bus Association successfully completed Operation Safe Stop Week, a statewide campaign held from Sept. 22 to 26, aimed at improving student safety and raising awareness about school bus laws.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) previously announced the joint effort in a press release, highlighting its focus on public education, increased enforcement around school buses, and efforts to curb dangerous driving behaviors near student pick-up and drop-off zones.
During the week, authorities carried out targeted enforcement at high-risk bus stops, conducted vehicle inspections, and launched public outreach initiatives. The campaign’s primary goal was to reduce illegal passing incidents and ensure that students could travel to and from school without danger.
Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent Tim Carnahan emphasized the importance of collaboration, stating, “The partnership with the Wisconsin School Bus Association and its drivers is essential in keeping both students and other road users safe. It’s critical that every driver understands and follows the rules of the road, especially around school buses.”
In 2024, over 1,200 citations were issued across Wisconsin to drivers who failed to stop for school buses with flashing red lights. Under state law, all drivers must stop at least 20 feet from a bus when its red lights are flashing, unless traveling on the opposite side of a divided highway. Buses also use amber lights to warn drivers that a stop is approaching.
Leading up to the campaign, the Wisconsin School Bus Association (WSBA) identified high-risk areas for illegal passing. Wisconsin State Patrol officers closely monitored these locations and performed safety checks to ensure bus warning systems were operating properly.
Cherie Hime, executive director of WSBA, noted via the release the ongoing commitment to student safety. “This initiative continues to serve as a vital effort to protect children and promote safe transportation. WSBA members are thankful for the long-standing partnership with the Wisconsin State Patrol on this important educational campaign,” she added.
As of March 2024, stricter penalties under Wisconsin Act 154 are now in effect. Motorists who fail to stop for a school bus face a $676.50 fine and four demerit points on their license.
San Bruno police stopped a Waymo after an illegal U-turn during DUI patrol.
Current California law blocks officers from issuing citations to driverless cars.
New rules in July 2026 will let police ticket autonomous vehicle companies.
When police set up a DUI checkpoint, they’ve got to be ready for just about anything. In between those who may or may not be under the influence, they’ll sometimes find people with warrants or those with illegal items in their car. What they probably never expect is a car with no driver at all. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what they stopped in California last Friday night.
According to the San Bruno PD, officers conducting a grant-funded DUI enforcement operation watched as a white Waymo Jaguar I-Pace made an illegal U-turn near the city’s Caltrain station. When it did, officers pulled the car over and, unsurprisingly, found nobody in the driver’s seat.
An Empty Front Seat
The department leaned into humor on social media, posting, “No driver, no hands, no clue. Our citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot.’” In this case, it’s the hands of law enforcement that are tied.
California law doesn’t currently allow moving violations to be issued to autonomous vehicles, so officers couldn’t write a ticket. That said, officers were able to reach out to Waymo’s operations team to report the glitch. In a perfect world, the staff will be able to update the system to never make another U-turn in that spot.
For now, Waymo escaped without a fine, but the stop highlights an issue we’ve seen before. As driverless cars become more common on public roads, law enforcement needs a way to deal with them when infractions happen.
Tickets Without Drivers
The problem isn’t confined to San Bruno. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the city of San Francisco has already seen Waymo vehicles rack up more than $65,000 in fines. At this point, federal regulators are investigating reports just like these with autonomous cars violating traffic laws.
San Bruno officers say their mission hasn’t changed. “Whether it’s drivers, passengers, or even driverless cars,” the department said, “we’ll continue to do our part to keep San Bruno’s streets safe.”
The Palmyra police department is the first municipal department in Wisconsin to sign a 287(g) agreement with the federal Immigration Customs Enforcement agency. | Photo via Palmyra Public Safety Department official website
A village police department in southeastern Wisconsin has pursued a type of 287(g) agreement with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that is not held by any other agency in the state.
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.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin criticized the Palmyra Police Department in Jefferson County, saying it is “partnering hand in glove with ICE to carry out this regime’s plan to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones.”
In a statement to the Examiner, interim police chief Paul Blount said the department’s focus is on criminals who threaten public safety and that this is “not a blanket immigration enforcement program.” Blount was not immediately available for an interview.
“If we find out that we have to participate in that aspect of it, where we’re actually going out, actively enforcing immigration policy and procedure and door to door, looking for undocumented individuals, then I would go on record on saying that we won’t participate in that,” Blount said, according to WISN 12 News.
He said that the agreement could be what keeps a local police department in the village, due to financial challenges, according to WISN 12 News. He also said there is a $100,000 incentive for the first arrest of an undocumented person that has been involved in a crime or is wanted, and $7,500 for each subsequent arrest.
According to WISN 12 News, Blount said that if the federal government approves the agreement, he would not move forward without approval from the village board. ICE’s online list currently shows Palmyra as a participating agency and includes Monday, Sept. 22 as the date of signature.
The Task Force Model serves as a “force multiplier,” according to ICE. It allows officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties, such as identifying a person who is not a U.S. citizen or national during a driving under the influence stop and sharing information directly with ICE. Agencies can carry out immigration enforcement activities under ICE supervision and oversight.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin said the department is “even taking it a step further than other agencies, instituting the most aggressive 287(g) model that gives officers the green light to stop people they think might be immigrants on the street, question them about their citizenship status, and even take them into custody.”
The 287(g) program allows a local law enforcement agency to enforce certain aspects of U.S. immigration law. According to ICE’s online list, Palmyra is the only police department in the state with a 287(g) agreement. There are 13 Wisconsin counties with a sheriff’s department partnering with ICE. These partnerships use the warrant service officer model or jail enforcement model, which are focused on local jails.
In the statement to the Examiner, Blount said that if the program is approved, it would allow officers to work in closer partnership with federal authorities. He said officers would gain access to databases and resources that help investigations and help combat serious crimes, such as narcotics trafficking and human trafficking.
“This is a tool, not a blanket immigration enforcement program,” Blount said. “Our focus is on criminals who threaten public safety — not law-abiding residents. The core mission of our department remains unchanged: responding to emergencies, enforcing traffic safety, and preventing crime in our community.”
The ACLU of Wisconsin also raised concern about racial profiling. Stateline reported that the task force agreements with ICE were discontinued in 2012 after a Department of Justice investigation found widespread racial profiling and other discrimination in an Arizona task force.
“This program tears apart communities and instills fear, and we must reject it in Wisconsin and everywhere else,” the ACLU said.
According to WISN 12 News, Blount said he will ensure there is a policy or procedure in place if the village does move forward so that residents “are protected from being profiled.”
A 15-year-old girl narrowly escaped an attempted abduction while waiting for her school bus, Cleaveland 19 News.
Strongsville Police Department said via the article that officers were dispatched to Fair Road around 6:40 a.m. on Sept. 5, after the teen reported being approached and grabbed by an unknown man. Authorities say the girl managed to break free and ran back into her home to alert her family, who then contacted police.
During an on-scene investigation, officers located a suspect at a nearby residence approximately a quarter mile from the reported incident. The man, identified as Dominic Anthony Sacco, 27, was taken into custody after being positively identified by the teen.
Sacco was reportedly held at the Strongsville Police Department facing charges of abduction. During his arraignment on Sept. 8, a judge set his bond at $1 million.
If Sacco were to post bond, he has been reportedly ordered to wear a GPS monitor and remain under home detention. Additionally, a temporary protection order has been issued, barring him from coming within 1,000 feet of the victim.
Strongsville police confirmed via the news article that Sacco is also a person of interest in two similar cases under active investigation. They are urging anyone with additional information to come forward as the investigation continues.
A man drove a Power Wheels Jeep on the road in traffic and police arrested him.
Authorities confirmed he had a suspended license and was driving under the influence.
His license is now further suspended as he awaits a court date set for December.
The Jeep Wrangler hangs its reputation on its ability to go just about anywhere. Of course, that reputation is also why it’s a popular choice for those buying Power Wheels electric cars for kids. Put an adult in the Barbie Jammin’ Jeep Wrangler from Power Wheels and it turns out that there are plenty of places the vehicle can’t go. In the case of this story, rush hour traffic, to be specific.
On September 5, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers found a man piloting a Barbie Jeep down Fifteenth Ave near Nicholson Street. They stopped him, and he revealed that he wanted a Slurpee but “got lazy,” so he borrowed his roommate’s kid’s Barbie Jeep to make the trip.
As pointed out by Road&Track that brought the story to our attention, the man, 40-year-old Kasper Lincoln, reportedly showed signs of impairment and had a suspended driver’s license.
Over the Limit at 5 MPH
According to CBC News, officers administered two breath tests and confirmed that he was over the legal limit at the time. Let me remind you, it was morning, specifically, 9 a.m. The string of excellent decisions here is uncanny. For example, the Barbie Jeep in question is capable of no more than 5 mph (8 km/h). Only kids aged 3 to 7 are supposed to pilot it, and at most, it should carry no more than 130 pounds.
Lincoln, who was wearing a shirt that reportedly read “Let’s Do It The Dumbest Way Possible.” Likely exceeded the weight limit and likely reduced both the intended speed and range of the toy. As such, it’s questionable whether or not he would’ve even made it to his destination and back without having to drag the toy along at some point.
He told the news station that he had no idea what he was doing was illegal and that he used the sidewalk for most of the trip before getting stopped. At this point, his driver’s license is now suspended for a further 90 days beyond the initial suspension he was already under. He’s also got a court date for December, where he’ll face a charge of prohibited driving.
The Cole family and their attorney's talk to press outside the federal courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
For the second time, a federal trial in the 2020 shooting death of Alvin Cole by then-Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah ended in a hung jury on Thursday. Deliberations began shortly after 5 p.m. on Wednesday, going until around 8 p.m. Jurors returned Thursday morning, and deliberated for a total of nearly 10 hours, more than doubling the amount of time deliberations lasted during the first trial, before deciding that they were hopelessly deadlocked. Plaintiff attorneys asked the jury for a total of $9 million ($5 million in compensatory damages, and $4 million in punitive damages), a figure far lower than the $22 million they asked for last time.
Following the trial, Mensah attorney Joseph Wirth said “it’s still proven a difficult case for the jury to reach a conclusion.” Wirth and his partner, attorney Jasmyne Baynard, declined to talk about settlement discussions with the media, but said they plan to talk to the jurors. “We have felt strongly about the merits of this case,” said Baynard. “I’ve felt strongly about my representation of Joseph Mensah and every other police officer that I represent. Feel strongly about his actions in this situation, and we’re going to go forward under that belief.”
Cole family attorneys Kimberly Motley and Nate Cade said that while they wanted a different outcome, “We are pleased that it was a hung jury.” Motley stressed that “it’s important for the public to be aware that Joseph Mensah killed three people in five years as a Wauwatosa police officer, that’s really important, and that this jury did not believe what he was saying. Now we have a jury that came back — and they were hung — but they deliberated longer, they had more evidence, and the evidence is just not good for him.” Motley said that Mensah’s story “doesn’t make sense.”
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.
During deliberations, jurors asked for transcripts of interviews of officers on the scene of the Cole shooting conducted by the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT), a request initially denied by Judge Adelman, due to questions about whether the interviews had been admitted as evidence. Later, Adelman reversed his decision and allowed the jury to see MAIT interviews of officers David Shamsi and Evan Olson. The two officers gave contradicting statements to MAIT investigators in 2020 about whether Cole moved or pointed his gun shortly before Mensah fired. Jurors also asked for Mensah’s deposition testimony, in which plaintiff attorneys say Mensah implied that when he fired on Cole, he was only concerned about his own safety. On the stand this week, Mensah said that he fired to protect himself and everyone else around Mayfair Mall.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys argued that the unrecorded officer interviews by MAIT were little more than hearsay, and attempted to limit the jury’s access to them. Besides arguing that MAIT reports are hearsay in the second trial, defense attorneys noted in the first trial that officers are not under oath when they talk to investigators after a police shooting. The debates in court raised questions about the policies and practices that MAIT relies on when investigating officer-involved deaths, which also inform whether prosecutors will charge officers with crimes after killing civilians.
Baynard said that “I don’t think that we’re in a position to comment on MAIT’s investigation, and truly that was not really an issue in this case to be decided, so no, I don’t have any issues.” Baynard added that, “I have seen plenty of MAIT investigations, I have seen plenty of investigations done by the [state Division of Criminal Investigation], I think they did a fine investigation here. I think that sometimes people forget that officers in these situations are afforded the exact same rights as anybody else would be afforded, and beyond that I’m not really interested in commenting on MAIT’s protocol.”
Cade stressed that the MAIT statements “are not heresy, ’cause they’re the statements.” Calling the heresy argument “nonsense”, Cade said that the problem with MAIT “is that they allow the officers to make decisions about it being recorded.” While Cade accepts that Mensah himself may have Fifth Amendment rights in such a case he said “the other officers don’t”. By contrast, civilian witnesses are recorded far more often than officers after police shootings. “Why do they bend over backwards for officers who are not even directly involved in terms of shooting,” asked Cade. “That’s a handicap. They said that MAIT was supposed to be designed to give the public confidence. How can you have confidence if you’re not going to tape officer’s conversations, so we know exactly what they said?”
Wirth said that Mensah “is absolutely disappointed that we weren’t able to obtain a verdict today,” adding that Mensah is no longer in law enforcement, “and it weighs heavily on him.” Wirth said “it’s a very important case to the Cole family, it’s a very important case to Joseph Mensah.”
The last day of testimony
On Wednesday defense attorneys called Joshua Boye, a video editor and graphic designer who reviewed squad car video from the Cole shooting. Boye testified that he had been paid by defense attorneys to edit the video as they directed by modifying audio, adjusting color and contrast, and adding a “spotlight” around Cole as he ran.
During cross examination, plaintiff attorneys drew attention to a timestamp in Boye’s video which does not appear in the raw version, leading plaintiff attorneys to question whether Boye had been given an altered version by defense attorneys. Later on, when this issue was raised again, Judge Adelman said that he hadn’t seen anything to suggest that the video had been tampered with. Boye repeatedly said that any edits he made to the video were done “at the direction of attorneys.”
Wauwatosa officer Evan Olson, who was one of the officers who responded to Mayfair Mall the night that Cole was killed, testified as uniformed Wauwatosa officers flowed into the courtroom to sit around Mensah’s wife, as they had during each day of the trial. A Wauwatosa PD spokesperson said in a statement to Wisconsin Examiner that “some officers chose to attend the trial in uniform to show their support for a former colleague, which is not uncommon in high-profile cases. Their attendance was voluntary and did not impact patrol staffing or the department’s ability to respond to calls of service.”
Attorney’s Jasmyne Baynard (left) and Joseph Wirth talk to press outside the federal courthouse (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Cole’s family, as well as the parents of Jay Anderson Jr., Mensah’s second fatal shooting in 2016, also attended every day of the trial. Motley and Cade took issue with the presence of uniformed Wauwatosa officers. “This isn’t the city of Wauwatosa,” said Motley, “so I was kind of concerned about what was happening in the city of Wauwatosa with all these police officers that came in uniform to sit in court for hours and hours, for a person who no longer works for Wauwatosa as a police officer, and is no longer a Wauwatosa officer period. So I think that the taxpayers should demand why that happened.”
Cade called the uniformed officers’ presence intimidating for the jury. “We aren’t allowed to say anything about the thin blue line and backing the blue, but it was obvious,” he said. During the first trial plaintiff attorneys were told that the Cole family was not allowed to wear any clothing with messages about Alvin.
Olson testified that he arrived at Mayfair Mall responding to a report about disorderly conduct involving a gun. After arriving, Olson immediately encountered at least two teens who were part of Cole’s group, and ordered them to the ground. Off in the distance, he could see Cole running from officers and mall security, before hearing a single shot. Olson testified to seeing Cole “in what I would say is a low ready position,” similar to a stance taken in football. He said that Cole pointed a firearm at him, making him move out of the way of what he thought would be more gunfire, and prepare to shoot himself. Olson called Cole a “lethal threat”, and said that after Mensah fired, Cole went from the football-like position to lying prone on the ground. Plaintiff attorneys argued that Olson was seeing Cole in the act of falling. Olson kicked the gun from Cole’s hand and assisted in CPR.
Olson, Mensah and Shamsi gave contradicting statements, opening the door for the trial. Both Olson and Mensah said that the gun was pointed in their directions, but they were positioned on opposite sides of the parking lot. Shamsi, who was the closest officer to Cole, testified that Cole and the gun didn’t move after Cole fell. Olson said he didn’t think other officers who didn’t see the gun move were lying. Every officer testified that foot pursuits are dangerous, unpredictable situations especially when guns are involved.
When Olson left the stand, he took a seat in the gallery near Mensah’s wife and the other Wauwatosa officers. Olson, like the rest of the officers, was uniformed every day of the trial. On Thursday, when the jury continued deliberations, Olson and a Wauwatosa police sergeant came to court in civilian clothes.
Sarah Hopkins, a civilian witness, claimed to have been outside the Cheesecake Factory restaurant when she saw Cole being chased by mall security. Hopkins said that Cole stopped running at one point, making her think that he was surrendering, but then that he turned and pointed a gun at the officers. Hopkins said that Cole “was like fumbling around” and that “all of a sudden we hear rapid shots.” Plaintiff attorneys questioned the fact that Hopkins described Cole doing a motion which no one else described seeing. Davion Beard, a former Mayfair Mall security guard, initially helped to locate the group of teens, and participated in the foot chase. Beard, who ran track, testified to essentially being the closest person to Cole with just a foot or two separating them. When the first shot was fired, Beard said he dropped to the ground, with Shamsi not far behind him, and that he didn’t see Cole crawl, turn his body, or point a gun.
The Cole family and attorneys talk to press outside the federal courthouse. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Testimony concluded with Mensah’s attorneys calling Michael Knetzger, a certified instructor in Defense and Arrest Tactics (DAAT) and former Green Bay police officer. Knetzger repeatedly implied that the jurors should put themselves in Mensah’s mindset at the moment of the shooting. When cross examined, plaintiff attorneys drew attention to Knetzger’s lack of “real world experience” dealing with shootings and homicides, and that his doctorate and degrees had come from online universities including one that marketed itself as the nation’s “most affordable online Christian University.”
During closing arguments Cade reminded the jury that Cole was a kid who made stupid decisions like many young people, including his own sons who Cade called “knuckleheads.” Cade stressed that “for Joseph Mensah to be right, everybody else has to be wrong,” referring to the testimony from multiple officers, Beard, and other witnesses that Cole had not turned toward Mensah or moved after he fell to the ground. Cade said that Olson testified to support his friend Mensah, and that Mensah himself had incentive to change his story.
Attorney Baynard, representing the defense, said that Cole made “catastrophically dangerous” decisions which went beyond the sort of mistakes people make when they’re young. Baynard said that “police are not required to gamble with their lives”, and that while Cole’s death was tragic, “we are in court today because of his actions.” Baynard said that “Cole was in control of the situation” and that “he was driving the bus”, saying in her closing argument that “I’m not sure how many more opportunities he should have been given to comply.” Baynard described the turning motion Cole allegedly made as “a quick shift,” and made claims about prior witness testimony which Cade later refuted.
The Cole family said they are undeterred by Thursday’s hung jury. “We’re a strong united family,” said Tracy Cole, Alvin’s mother. Despite the hung jury, Cole said that she is encouraged because “somebody sees that my son was killed for no reason,” and that she believed her son was killed as he attempted to surrender.
“We are going to fight you Joseph, we ain’t gave up Joseph,” she added. “And my lawyers ain’t gave up.”
Motley echoed the sentiment. “It’s a good result,” she said of the hung jury, “and we’re going to keep fighting…because this is an important case.”
The federal courthouse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Another trial in the killing of 17-year-old Alvin Cole by then-Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah began Monday, with attorneys battling over whether Mensah used excessive force when he killed Cole following a foot chase in 2020. U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman is presiding over the case, as he did when the case went to trial earlier this year, ending in a hung jury. Mensah has claimed that Cole pointed a gun in his direction, making him fear for his life and triggering his decision to fire five shots at Cole.
An all-white, eight-member jury was selected out of a pool of 36 potential jurors, with an even split of men and women. None of the jurors are from Milwaukee. Two indicated that they have close relatives who served in law enforcement, though they said this would not sway their decision-making.
Attorney Kimberley Motley, representing Cole and his family, used a projection screen to display a photo of Cole when he was younger. She told jurors that sometimes kids do stupid things, which in this case was running from the police, but also that running alone does not give grounds for officers to use deadly force. “Some kids ran faster, some kids ran slower, and Alvin was one of the slower kids,” Motley said.
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.
Motley noted that Mensah was not the first officer on the scene. Yet he was the only officer to fire. She stressed to the jury that Mensah, not Cole, “is the only one on trial,” and that jurors can acknowledge that police have a hard job while also finding that Mensah used excessive force.
Cole was Mensah’s third shooting over a five-year period at Wauwatosa PD, a fact not shared with jurors. In his opening statement, attorney Joseph Wirth told jurors that foot chases are incredibly dangerous and unpredictable and that Cole made “catastrophically bad” decisions and “the escalation of danger” was “enormous”. After firing a gun he was carrying, Wirth said Cole went into a crouch-like position, fired at Olson, and then turned towards Mensah before he was killed. One of the key issues in the case has been conflicting statements from police officers on the scene, with Mensah saying the gun was only pointed at him, Officer David Shamsi (who was closest to Cole), saying the gun hadn’t moved at all, and Officer Even Olson saying that the gun was pointed towards him and away from Mensah.
“Sympathy for loss of life can exist at the same time as your duty as a juror to uphold the law,” Wirth told the jurors. He asked them to “clear your minds of sympathy” and reiterated that “Alvin Cole made catastrophically bad decisions.”
Both civilian and law enforcement witnesses were called to the stand Monday, beginning with UW-Milwaukee film and documentary teacher Sean Kafer, who’d reviewed squad and deposition videos for the trial. Kafer testified that he added a red circle to a version of the squad video depicting the shooting, and removed background noise. The video was played multiple times for jurors. Wirth also played versions of the squad video. The low quality of the video was one of the issues noted by the jurors who failed to reach a unanimous decision in the last trial.
Shamsi, now an FBI agent and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve with combat experience, was working overtime the night of the shooting. He was among the officers who “floated” to the area in case they were needed.
After the first shot went off, Shamsi testified that Cole ended up on his hands and knees, with the firearm still in his right hand. Mensah came from behind Shamsi, who said that he did not see Cole turn or take a shooter’s stance as Wirth said in opening statements.
Video from Shamsi’s squad car was also played capturing him talking to other officers, including investigators from the Milwaukee Police Department who’d come to take his statement. In those videos, Shamsi can be heard saying “he was crawling” and that Shamsi was right next to “dude” when the shooting happened. When asked about Cole aiming the gun, Shamsi said, “I did not see it move.” Shamsi cautioned, though, that the situation was chaotic and rapid, and that he may not have noticed everything. He added that it was a deadly situation, and that he was prepared to fire if needed.
Shenora Statten-Jordan, a principal at Messmer High School testified that she was leaving a Mayfair-area restaurant when the shooting happened. Driving her white SUV beside her husband and two children in the back, Statten-Jordan testified to seeing lights and commotion near the Cheesecake Factory parking lot. As her vehicle approached she could see other officers responding, hear the shots, and see a boy fall to the ground onto his stomach with his legs still kicking “as if he was still running.”
Wirth attempted to establish, as he’d done in the last trial, that Statten-Jordan was not in a position to actually see the shooting. Video from Shamsi’s dash camera and a passing Milwaukee County bus, however, showed that Statten-Jordan was where she’d testified she was. After witnessing the shooting, she was interviewed by the Greenfield Police Department as part of the shooting investigation. Statten-Jordan said she’d offered to go back to the scene with officers, but that they didn’t take her up on the offer.
The last witness of the day was Wauwatosa officer Jeffrey Johnson, who left his own patrol sector to respond to the mall that day. Johnson recalled meeting Shamsi, chasing the teens and hearing the shots that ended Cole’s life. Johnson testified that Cole had fallen to his hands and knees, and that from his position 20-25 yards away that he, like Shamsi, did not see Cole move. Nor did Johnson fire his weapon, although he drew it after the first shot was fired. Johnson said that although he didn’t see Cole move while on the ground, a lot was going on. Johnson said that officer training does not require a gun to be pointed at you to justify firing.
The trial is expected to last until late Wednesday or early Thursday, when the case will be turned over for deliberations. Dr. Weislaw Tlomak, Chief Medical Officer of the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, is expected to begin testimony Tuesday.
National Guard troops, like those President Donald Trump is using to crack down on big-city crime, generally are not trained in law enforcement.
Trump sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., in August as a crackdown. The Milwaukee police union president said he might ask Trump to send troops to Milwaukee.
D.C. police get 21 modules of criminal procedure training, and Guard members get none, an analysis found.
The Guard’s primary law enforcement training is crowd control, said the analysis’ co-author, Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
U.S. Naval War College professor Lindsay Cohn, a civil-military relations expert, said most Guard members are not trained in law enforcement, but some are spot-trained.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, head of the Wisconsin National Guard, said Guard members are the “wrong people” to fight crime because they’re not trained police officers.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
A trooper cited a Dodge Charger EV driver for a ‘loud exhaust’ it doesn’t have.
The owner insists another car made the noise while he waited at a red light.
Months later, the ticket still isn’t filed in court, leaving the case unresolved.
Driving a Dodge Charger EV brings with it a kind of freedom that feels both practical and kind of futuristic. No more waiting at gas stations, no scheduling oil changes, and certainly no crawling under the car to deal with exhaust leaks. What it doesn’t free you from, apparently, is the risk of being ticketed for having a “loud exhaust.”
That’s exactly what one owner just experienced despite the fact that the Charger Daytona doesn’t have an actual exhaust system at all.
What it does have is Dodge’s so-called Fratzonic exhaust system, which is marketing speak for speakers that emulate the sound and vibration of a gas-powered exhaust system. As fake exhaust noises go, it’s better than some. That said, the driver in this story was and is shocked that he could end up in this situation.
The driver in question is Mike from Distressed Media, and he recorded a recent interaction with a Minnesota State Trooper. In it, the officer tells Mike that he’s getting a ticket for having a “loud exhaust” and for “disturbing the peace.”
The Stop in Stillwater
Mike toldThe Drive that he was cruising through Stillwater, a city with a strict noise ordinance, when things went sideways. He was at a stoplight “about eight cars deep” when the lead car launched loudly. That’s when a state trooper across the intersection flipped around and pulled Mike over.
“The trooper stepped up and immediately told me my car’s exhaust was way too loud and was disturbing the peace,” Mike recalled. “I tried telling him it’s an EV and doesn’t have an exhaust or an engine, and he said he’s not gonna argue with me.” The trooper also ticketed him for not having a front license plate.
Things only get weirder from there, though.
Mike says the ticket is evidently not even in the system, several months after the stop. “I have called the courthouse every week for the last 10 weeks trying to schedule the court date/appearance, and still nothing,” he said.
Maybe the court recognizes how absurd it is to fine someone for the sound of an exhaust that doesn’t exist. Or maybe Mike hasn’t heard the last of it, and we’ll eventually see how the system tries to hold him accountable for a noise his car can only pretend to make.
A jail lieutenant for a northern Wisconsin sheriff’s office resigned in 2022 after an internal investigation found he sent sexually explicit messages and photos to female subordinates. He now works as a police officer in a neighboring county.
Jeffrey Johnson worked at the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, rising to administrator of the county jail, before he “resigned in lieu of termination,” according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice database that tracks law enforcement officers who leave a position under negative circumstances. Johnson started working for the Minong Police Department in Washburn County a little over a year later, according to the same database.
His resignation came after he admitted to sending “text messages of a sexual nature to a subordinate jail deputy, including pictures of your genitals,” according to a document from the sheriff’s office The Badger Project obtained in a records request. “When confronted about these text messages, you did not deny sending them and noted you could not recall the messages, given you were likely intoxicated when they were sent.”
Sawyer County refused to release the full investigation report to The Badger Project, citing client-attorney privilege, but one of the documents it did release notes that Johnson interacted similarly with “a number of other female deputies.”
Sawyer County Sheriff Doug Mrotek said in an interview that scrutiny on Johnson was greater because he was a leader and oversaw the jail’s staff of about 17 people. But he was not on duty when he sent the messages and the interactions didn’t constitute harassment, Mrotek said.
“We all make mistakes,” Mrotek said. “We all can have a bad day. It’s tough for me not to have a lot of respect for his integrity and character. Now make no mistake, I’m not saying that I condone his wrong action … but he made a mistake. And that mistake cost him his position as a leader.”
Mrotek said if Johnson had been a patrol deputy and not a jail lieutenant at the time, he would probably still be working for the Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s a leader-subordinate issue,” Mrotek said. But “he’s not going to make the same mistake twice.”
Johnson used Mrotek as a reference when he applied to his current job, where he works as a patrol officer and not in a supervisory role.
Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.
Minong Police Department Chief Lucas Shepard wrote in an email that Johnson was recommended for the position by the command staff at Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office.
Shepard also said Johnson was unanimously approved for the position at his department by himself and four citizen representatives. The chief and Johnson are Minong’s only full-time police officers.
Shepard said his department’s own background check revealed that the allegations of misconduct against Johnson involved consensual behavior that happened off duty.
“Beyond his resignation from that department, Officer Johnson offered the Minong Police Department years of valuable knowledge, training, and experience in law enforcement,” Shepard wrote. He “exemplifies what community-based policing strives for and if he has one definite characteristic as an officer, it is the care that he has for the people that he is policing.”
Wandering officers increasing in Wisconsin during cop crunch
This cop crunch has been a problem for years across the country, experts say.
Statewide, the number of wandering officers, those who were fired or forced out from a previous job in law enforcement, continues to rise. Nearly 400 officers in Wisconsin currently employed were fired or forced out of previous jobs in law enforcement in the state, almost double the amount from 2021. And that doesn’t include officers who were pushed out of law enforcement jobs outside of the state and came to Wisconsin to work.
Despite their work histories, wandering officers can be attractive to hire for law enforcement agencies, as they already have their certification, have experience and can start working immediately.
Law enforcement agencies can look up job applicants in the state DOJ’s database to get more insight into officers’ work history. And a law enacted in 2021 in Wisconsin bans law enforcement agencies from sealing the personnel files and work histories of former officers, previously a common tactic for cops with a black mark on their record.
About 13,400 law enforcement officers are currently employed in Wisconsin, excluding those who primarily work in a corrections facility, according to the state DOJ. Wandering officers make up about 2.5% of the total.
At least one major study published in the Yale Law Journal has found that wandering officers are more likely to receive a complaint for a moral character violation, compared to new officers and veterans who haven’t been fired or forced out from a previous position in law enforcement.
This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.
Family alleges Tesla Cybertruck defects trapped 47-year-old driver in fiery August crash.
The lawsuit also accuses Barn Whiskey Bar of over-serving alcohol before the incident.
Plaintiffs seek over $1M in damages despite NHTSA’s top safety rating for the Cybertruck.
A tragic crash involving a Tesla Cybertruck has now turned into a courtroom battle. More than a year after Michael Sheehan lost his life in a single-vehicle accident, his family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both Tesla and a Texas bar, arguing that both share responsibility for what happened.
According to the complaint, filed in Harris County District Court, Sheehan owned the Cybertruck for just 102 days when the crash happened. He left the Barn Whiskey Bar in Cypress, Texas, and crashed about seven miles away. The Tesla left the road, hit a culvert, and burst into flames.
At the time of the accident, it was unclear what caused the crash. Investigators openly admitted that just identifying the body was difficult due to the heat of the fire. Now, we have a little more insight into potentially contributing factors.
Claims Against The Bar
Sheehan’s family says that the Barn Whiskey Bar over-served Sheehan despite him being “clearly intoxicated.” In fact, the lawsuit goes as far as to say that “it was apparent to the provider that MICHAEL SHEEHAN was obviously intoxicated to the extent that he presented a clear danger to himself and others.”
Interestingly, the family also blames Tesla because it says the Cybertruck itself is dangerous. According to the lawsuit, the “battery cell chemistry used is hyper volatile and susceptible to thermal runaway.” The family says that the automaker could have used “battery cell chemistry with slower thermal propagation readily available, which allows longer time to escape post-crash.”
The family goes on to cite other things it sees as defects, like the battery modules, the packs, the location of the vents in those modules and packs, and even the door handles in the truck that are “unreasonably difficult to locate in an emergency.”
What The Family Seeks
Essentially, the family believes that if the fire had spread more slowly and if egress had been easier, Sheehan would’ve escaped. To that end, it’s seeking damages in excess of $1,000,000. All that said, it’s also worth noting that the Cybertruck has the highest safety rating (five-star) from the NHTSA.
Reading Time: 7minutesClick here to read highlights from the story
Pay raises and other efforts have done little to ease the 911 dispatcher shortage in Brown County: The county is short more than one in three of its needed dispatchers.
Boosting pay isn’t enough to attract and retain dispatchers, experts say – departments must boost morale, get creative with hiring and training and address the mental health toll the job takes.
Waukesha County officials made changes that show promise: The county’s 911 center went from over half-vacant to almost fully staffed in two years.
Furthermore, advocates support federal legislation that would reclassify all 911 dispatchers as first responders, which would allow dispatchers to access benefits like additional mental health resources.
For years, Brown County has struggled to hire people to answer 911 calls and coordinate responses to emergencies. Its emergency dispatch center was among many that grappled with worsened staffing shortages after the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as the crisis eases nationwide, major shortages still beset Brown County’s 911 center. Despite past pay raises and other efforts, the county is missing more than one in three of its needed dispatchers. Industry experts say boosting pay isn’t enough to attract dispatchers nowadays. Departments must also boost morale, get creative with hiring and training and address the mental health toll the job takes.
Waukesha County’s 911 center offers an example of how such measures can help alleviate shortages. It placed a laser focus on employee mental well-being and went from over half-vacant to almost fully staffed in two years.
The Brown County vacancies haven’t impacted how quickly dispatchers pick up the phone when residents dial 911 — employees still answer faster than the national standard recommends. But some county leaders are worried that mistakes will be made if the issue continues.
Only one of the five elected supervisors who helm a committee overseeing the county’s public safety operations answered calls and emails for this story. Supervisor Michael LaBouve, who represents most of the east side of De Pere, told Wisconsin Watch the county is following a plan to address the shortage and solving it is “going to take time.”
“I think we’re all seeing progress, so that’s all I have to communicate about that,” LaBouve said. “I feel good about what’s happening.”
But at 19 employees short, the center tallies more vacancies today than it did several years ago when the county first prioritized the crisis, and some are losing their patience.
During a public meeting in late May, supervisors aired their frustration at the lack of progress. Dispatchers worked a combined 8,600 hours of overtime so far this year, the department said, and they’ve routinely taken to local government meetings to voice their experiences with stress and burnout.
“Looking at us to go 60, 70, potentially 80 hours and being called in on the days off and 24/7 is just — it’s mind-boggling,” dispatcher Kirk Parker said during a May meeting.
Money not the answer?
Staffing shortages have plagued the public safety communications industry for years, but the issue peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2023, about one in four dispatch jobs across the country were vacant, research by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch suggested.
There are still “alarming strains” on the industry, but there are recent signs of progress, said April Heinze, chief of 911 operations for the National Emergency Number Association, a national nonprofit of dispatch industry professionals. Research by NENA shows 74% of centers reported having vacant positions in 2025, improved from 82% in 2024.
However, those improvements aren’t reflected locally. Brown County was short 19 staffers in early August, according to officials, leaving about 35% of the center vacant.
“Like playing a game of Whack-a-Mole: as quickly as one issue can be addressed, another issue pops up,” Chancy Huntzinger, Brown County’s director of public safety communications, said in a statement to Wisconsin Watch.
In 2023, in one of its first major efforts to attract and retain staff, Brown County’s Board of Supervisors voted to allocate over $400,000 for raises, retention bonuses and a starting pay boost. Pay now starts at $24.60 per hour, according to the department.
“Obviously, pay is not always the most important thing,” Heinze said. Data from the study NENA completed in May showed the largest affliction for dispatchers across the country is burnout.
Plus, the pay boost didn’t do much to make Brown County stand out to job seekers. The department’s minimum pay is middle-of-the-pack compared to other northeast Wisconsin counties.
Waukesha’s methods show promise
Roughly two hours south, Waukesha County’s 911 agency has made outsized progress in solving its dispatcher shortage.
When COVID-19 prompted the “Great Resignation,” dozens of dispatchers left Waukesha County Communications Center for higher-paying, lower-stress jobs in public safety technology startups, utility company call centers and other nearby 911 centers.
By October 2023, the center was over half empty. Down over 20 dispatchers, senior staff were forced to pick up call-taking shifts. Staff worked during their time off. Employees regularly picked up back-to-back 12-hour shifts.
“People were starting to feel burnt out, and really it became a snowball effect,” said Gail Goodchild, the county’s emergency preparedness director. “We saw bad attitudes. People didn’t want to come into work. The culture was waning.”
Department leaders realized they needed “all hands on deck” to turn things around, Goodchild said — which they did. According to NENA, they had only two vacancies in July.
The department did raise pay, bringing the starting hourly wage to $29.44 from roughly $27. This helped, but “wasn’t the leading thing that really turned us around,” Goodchild said. Department leaders also parted with staff they felt “didn’t contribute to a positive culture.” They revamped their hiring and training processes and eased the job requirements. And they introduced an intense focus on dispatchers’ mental health.
Waukesha’s hiring process once heavily relied on CritiCall, a software commonly used in 911 centers that tests potential dispatchers’ skills at multitasking, decision-making, map reading and more. It was determined the test was “weeding people out that would have probably been a really good fit,” said Chris Becker, Waukesha’s communications operations manager.
“We looked at our numbers in that and determined that there was no correlation between our successful trainees and their CritiCall scores being high,” Becker said. “So we tossed that out.”
Now, the hiring committee strictly focuses on if a candidate will fit the department’s culture. To ensure people learn the hard skills the exam measures, the department has refined and revamped its training. (Brown County candidates must pass the CritiCall exam to be hired, and the county has not considered changing that, Huntzinger said.)
An officer walks into the Green Bay Police Department on Aug. 12, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)
Waukesha also removed its two-year work experience requirement from the job description to yield more candidates, a move it may soon reverse because it’s seen that having “some of that life experience” is good, Becker said.
Finally, the county ramped up mental health support to dispatchers. In addition to regular benefits offered in the county’s employee assistance program, it contracted a local mental health provider specializing in first responders. Dispatchers now regularly attend mandatory, confidential 90-minute meetings with the providers, who help employees work through vicarious trauma, a type of trauma common among first responders that compounds when hearing, reading or witnessing distressing events. The grant-funded initiative costs roughly $16,000 for 18 months, Becker said.
“In case our staff ever gets to a point where they need them, they feel more comfortable to reach out for that help, rather than living with it and burying it and then getting to that point of burnout again,” Becker said.
Brown County has not explored increased mental health support as a method of retention. Staff are encouraged to visit the Public Safety Communications director’s office if they have concerns, and they can receive counseling benefits through the county’s employee assistance program, Huntzinger said.
“We’re listening to people’s worst days, right? We hang up the phone when the first responders get there, and then it’s left to our imagination to fill in the blanks,” Becker said. “But some of those traumatic calls just don’t go away, and they’ll pop up at random times, or a call three years later will remind you of a call that you took, and you’re right back to that place again. … It’s super important for our staff to have that outlet.”
Looking ahead
After bumping pay, Brown County’s Board of Supervisors requested an independent review of the dispatch center in 2024. The report, delivered in January 2025, made 65 recommendations on how the center could improve operations and its staffing.
The department has made mixed progress on implementing the recommendations, which vary in complexity, and gives monthly progress updates to the board’s Public Safety Committee.
Per the advice of the consultants, the department introduced employee referral bonuses and now has candidates visit the call center before they interview, rather than after.
The department will also hire “traveling dispatchers” — temporary contractors who will work at the center for six months to cover some shifts, Huntzinger said. She did not answer a question from Wisconsin Watch about how much this will cost the county.
Next year, the center will introduce a new shift schedule to help it operate more effectively with less staff, Huntzinger said. Though consultants recommended the county’s “unnecessarily complex” schedule be changed immediately, it was delayed following employee pushback.
The report also suggested the county “substantially expand” partnerships with local education institutions to create a pipeline of candidates. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, which offers workforce training in emergency dispatch, said it has not been formally assigned recruitment efforts but it aims to support the region’s workforce needs.
In the last four years, 84 students have completed programs that certify them in emergency dispatch. Twenty-seven of those included a tour of the Brown County Dispatch Center.
“One of the biggest barriers is awareness,” Jeff Steeber, the college’s associate dean of public safety, said of the struggle to get students into the field. “Many students enter our programs without knowing that emergency dispatch is a viable and rewarding career option.”
Industry leaders have spent years advocating for legislation they believe would change this.
The federal 911 Saves Act, championed by both NENA and Waukesha leaders, would reclassify all 911 dispatchers as first responders for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which currently lists them as clerical or secretarial employees, alongside office clerks and taxi dispatchers.
This would allow dispatchers to access a slate of benefits, such as increased mental health resources, and it would reinforce the cruciality of the job, Heinze said.
“You hear little kids say, ‘I want to be a firefighter. I want to be a police officer,’” Goodchild said. “They don’t look at a 911 telecommunicator dispatcher as a career path. That hurts the industry, too.”
Eighteen states have passed their own laws reclassifying telecommunicators, but Wisconsin is not one of them.
“We’re hopeful this year that it is going to (pass), and it would help us, I think, very, very, very much,” Heinze said.
Miranda Dunlap reports on pathways to success in northeast Wisconsin, working in partnership with Open Campus.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.
Wearing his Milwaukee police uniform, Gregory Carson Jr. stepped into the witness stand, raised his right hand and swore to tell the truth.
Two years earlier, a man had been shot in an alley. His girlfriend said police pressured her to allow a search of the duplex as she held her infant. That search had turned up five guns, and now her boyfriend faced a federal charge.
On the stand that afternoon, a public defender asked Carson if he recalled making inappropriate statements to the girlfriend. Commenting on seeing her underwear on the floor? Reaching out to her hours later? Texting her?
Carson’s answer under oath to each question was the same.
No.
A few witnesses later, the girlfriend swore to tell the truth and read screenshots of text messages she had received.
Hey, it’s me. Honestly it was seeing your thong on the floor that had me like damn lol.
The woman replied to ask who was contacting her. She read the response in court: Hey it’s Carson from yesterday and I understand.
The officer had been caught in a lie.
Gregory Carson Jr. (Provided photo)
At the time, Carson already was on the Milwaukee County district attorney’s list of officers with a history of credibility, integrity or bias concerns, commonly referred to as a “Brady/Giglio” list.
He also was under internal investigation for those same text messages. None of that was known to the defense attorney who questioned him.
After that court hearing, Carson remained on the Milwaukee Police Department payroll for more than two years. In that period, he came under internal investigation three more times.
His nine-year career illustrates the risk of keeping such officers on the force and interacting with the public after their credibility and integrity have come under question. At least a dozen officers, including Carson, kept their jobs after landing on the Brady list, then ended up on the list again for another incident, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch found.
Reached in April, Carson declined an interview request.
Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said Carson faced several allegations that overlapped in time and that the officer had due process and collective bargaining rights. Internal investigations can take months or even years to complete, the chief added.
“But we still have to remember, just as a court case, you are innocent until proven guilty,” Norman said in an interview in January.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman speaks with reporters at the Milwaukee Police Administration Building in July 2025. (Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Officers’ rights are important, but so is protecting public trust, said Justin Nix, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
“Officers can arrest us, they can use force on us, and along with that comes a lot of responsibility to uphold certain values and to be honest,” Nix said in June.
“When officers fail to meet those standards, in my mind, it’s unacceptable.”
Officer lands on Brady list after domestic violence arrest but keeps his job
Carson wanted a long career with the Milwaukee Police Department.
He started as a police aide.
He had relatives who were cops and he wanted to make a difference in his community, “busting down drug houses, getting guns off the streets,” he wrote to a supervisor in 2015.
“I am striving for success, and 25 years plus on the job,” he added.
He became a sworn officer in 2018. Two years later, his own department arrested him on a domestic violence allegation.
A woman had called for help, saying she wanted Carson to leave their shared residence. She had confronted him over infidelity suspicions, and then he held her against the couch and bit her cheek, she said.
Police separated the two. Officer Roy Caul asked the woman about domestic violence incidents that had occurred at any time, not just that night in 2020.
“Just because he’s a cop doesn’t mean that he’s free to do this to you,” Caul said, according to transcripts from body camera footage.
The woman said she just wanted Carson out of the house.
The officer asked if anything occurred that night or within the last 28 days to cause her pain or make her fear for her safety. The woman replied no.
Officers arrested Carson, already in uniform for his next shift, and took him to the training academy for further questioning. He denied hurting the woman.
The department referred the case to the district attorney’s office. Assistant District Attorney Nicolas Heitman declined to charge Carson. In a recent email to the Journal Sentinel, Heitman said the office did not feel it could meet the burden of proof with the available evidence.
Three months later, the woman told Internal Affairs she had not feared for her safety. Carson told Internal Affairs nothing physical happened.
“I feel that I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, according to department records.
Norman, the chief, disagreed and gave Carson a three-day suspension.
The arrest resulted in the district attorney’s office placing Carson on its list of officers with credibility or integrity issues, often called a “Brady/Giglio” list, named after two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
These lists are maintained to help prosecutors fulfill their legal obligations to share information favorable to the defense. Often, criminal cases come down to the word of an officer against a defendant. Judges and juries must weigh the credibility of both.
With Carson’s name added to the list, prosecutors would need to disclose his criminal referral and integrity violation to defense attorneys if he appeared on their witness list.
Then it would be up to a defense attorney, and later a judge, to determine if it was relevant to bring up in court.
Carson kept his job, his badge and his ability to testify.
Wisconsin does not have statewide standards for Brady lists, leaving it to each county to track material
Until recently, the county’s full Brady list was kept secret.
As a result of reporters’ questions, District Attorney Kent Lovern removed officers and added others. His office released a corrected and updated list of nearly 200 officers in February, which was published by the Journal Sentinel and media partners.
Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern speaks at a news conference on April 8, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Who gets on a list – and whether counties even have a list – varies widely in Wisconsin, where there are no statewide standards. Officers can testify in multiple counties or in federal court, depending on the case and where an investigation leads.
Federal prosecutors, however, have standardized U.S. Department of Justice guidelines. Prosecutors are supposed to ask law enforcement witnesses directly about potential Brady material and check with officers’ home agencies.
“This process is designed to identify information that is even broader in scope than what is legally required and what might trigger being on a list in another jurisdiction,” said Kenneth Gales, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee, in an email.
Gales maintained the office followed all proper procedures prior to Carson’s testimony in the federal hearing.
Even if a formal list is not shared by prosecutors, state and federal public defenders in eastern Wisconsin often exchange information between their offices about the credibility of law enforcement witnesses.
Criminal defense attorneys in Wisconsin say inconsistencies in disclosing Brady material can lead to injustice and wrongful convictions.
Such information is crucial for an effective defense, said Bridget Krause, trial division director for the State Public Defender’s Office.
“Our clients have liberty at stake,” she said.
In shooting case, a witness says officer made inappropriate comments in person and through texts
In late 2021, the Milwaukee Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division received a letter from a prisoner at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.
In it, a man accused officers of illegally searching his house during a shooting investigation.
It was the call involving Carson.
Internal Affairs opened an investigation and notified Carson, saying he was accused of taking part in an illegal search and failing to activate his body camera.
A third allegation read that “while on scene, you made inappropriate comments to a female citizen as well as sending her an inappropriate text message,” according to paperwork served on Carson on March 1, 2022.
Seven days later at the court hearing, Carson denied knowing anything about the texts.
A transcript shows Milwaukee police officer Gregory Carson Jr. answering questions about texting a witness during a 2022 federal court hearing. The witness’ name was redacted. (Milwaukee Police Department)
He also defended his decision to turn off his body camera, saying he had switched off the device to speak with other officers, who did the same. No one recorded the conversation detectives had with the woman about searching the home.
“My role in the investigation was over once the detectives were on scene inside the residence,” Carson said, according to a court transcript.
When the man’s girlfriend testified, she said she felt pressured to allow the search after an officer mentioned child welfare. She feared her baby would be taken away. She also said that Carson had flirted with her in the house.
When the prosecutor asked her to elaborate, she quoted Carson as saying: “Oh, you might as well kiss your man goodbye, because you ain’t never going to see him again.”
She also remembered this comment: “I’m going to come back and see you later, okay? You going to let me in? It’s just going to be me and you.”
As the hearing closed, Joshua Uller, a federal public defender, sharpened his argument that officers had acted improperly and their search was not lawful.
Carson and others violated department policy when they didn’t record their interaction with the woman as she signed the consent form. They treated a shooting victim as a suspect without evidence to do so, and Carson had acted completely inappropriately, he said.
“Turning a woman with a newborn child whose boyfriend was just taken away in an ambulance into a romantic objective is really beyond the pale,” Uller said, according to a transcript.
Later that month, Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries issued his report and recommendation. Though he chided officers for failing to record the woman signing the form, he concluded they had properly gotten her consent and the search was legal.
Carson’s testimony on the text messages, he said, was not credible.
Officer, already on the Brady list, tries to dissuade a woman from filing a complaint against another officer
Two days after the hearing, an internal investigator questioned Carson about the text messages.
He admitted to sending them, contradicting his testimony.
He said he had a “weakness” and had contacted the woman in “romantic pursuit,” department records say.
“In no way shape or form did I ever intend to be inappropriate or disrespect her in that manner,” he said, according to the records. “It was honestly me trying to shoot my shot and that was it.”
He denied making inappropriate comments to her in person and denied using his position as a police officer as an advantage. He said he regretted it and had learned a lesson.
He never mentioned his false testimony. At this point, federal prosecutors had not notified the police department of any concerns.
A portion of Milwaukee Police Department records detailing the internal investigation into Gregory Carson Jr., who was found to have sent inappropriate text messages to a woman he met at a shooting scene. (Milwaukee Police Department)
About three months after that interview, Carson had another troubling interaction with a woman he met on duty when she and her ex-boyfriend walked into District 7 on the city’s north side.
The former couple had a heated property dispute. The woman also said the man had intentionally hit her head while closing a car door. The man said it was an accident.
Carson was one of four officers dealing with the situation.
The woman grew frustrated with an officer who implied she was lying about the car door injury and refused to write a report about the incident. Police cited the man for battery.
Hours later, the woman received a call from a blocked number.
It was Carson.
He explained who he was and said he was off-duty. He pleaded with her not to file a complaint against his co-worker who had implied she was lying, according to police records. All of the officers involved were “good guys” who could only do so much, she remembered him saying.
She also recalled Carson saying that he hoped she would leave her ex-boyfriend alone because he did not want the ex “popping up at her house” while Carson was there, which she believed to be a flirtatious comment.
The next day, she filed two complaints at District 7: one against the officer who implied she lied and one against Carson.
In a recent interview with the Journal Sentinel, the woman called the actions of the officers that day “extremely disheartening.”
“When you’re going through one of the toughest times of your life, the last thing you should have to deal with is them approaching you in a sexual manner or accusing you of lying when you’re literally crying out for help,” said the woman, who asked not to be named publicly for privacy and safety reasons.
Internal Affairs classified her complaint against Carson as potential misconduct in office and assigned a detective to investigate.
A federal prosecutor tells the Milwaukee Police Department an officer gave false testimony in court
That summer, the federal case involving the shooting victim and Carson’s texts continued.
The defense attorney asked another judge to weigh in on the legality of the search.
As prosecutors prepared for another hearing in July 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Paulson reached out to Carson about his prior testimony.
She then wrote a memo summarizing their conversation, in which she said Carson admitted to sending the texts and not being truthful in his testimony, adding: “I’m human and I’m attracted to women.”
The Milwaukee Federal Building and Courthouse is shown in Milwaukee on Aug. 5, 2016. (Angela Peterson / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
On July 6, 2022, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Funnell emailed Internal Affairs with concerns about Carson’s credibility. He followed up the next day with a transcript from the March hearing, the earlier judge’s report and the defense motion for a second evidentiary hearing.
Asked about the case and the length of time it took the U.S. Attorney’s Office to contact Milwaukee police, a spokesman for the office said prosecutors acted appropriately.
“The United States also timely satisfied all legal disclosure obligations to the Court and to the defense in the matter you have referenced,” Gales said in an email.
Carson was on the county’s Brady list of officers with credibility issues — he had been since 2021 — but Uller, the federal public defender, said he had never seen the county’s Brady list until the Journal Sentinel and other media partners published it in February.
“While I cannot comment on this particular case, I am not aware of any instance in which, prior to the publication of this list, a lawyer in our office was notified of an officer’s inclusion in this list,” he said.
The Journal Sentinel tried to contact the woman who received the texts but was not successful. Her then-boyfriend charged in the case died in a shooting two years ago.
After hearing from the federal prosecutor in July 2022, Internal Affairs opened an investigation into Carson’s false testimony.
Carson was now the subject of three pending internal investigations, had previously received a three-day suspension and was on the county’s Brady list.
Still, he remained on patrol.
“At the time, it’s an allegation,” Norman, the police chief, said in an interview.
“We have, again, due process,” he added. “And so we need to make sure that there is, you know, the fairness of ensuring that there is credibility to everything, even from a prosecutor.”
A domestic violence victim calls for help, and an officer under internal investigation responds
Bobbie Lou Schoeffling called 911 for help on July 11, 2022.
Over the previous months, Schoeffling or her sister had repeatedly called police to report violence from Schoeffling’s ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Howell. Howell had not been arrested despite the multiple reports, having an open warrant for fleeing and being under the supervision of correctional agents for a past robbery conviction.
Bobbie Lou Schoeffling is seen in an undated family photo. (Courtesy of Tia Schoeffling)
That night, Schoeffling called police twice to report threats from Howell. On the second call, she said he had threatened to burn down her house on Hampton Avenue. She had left the area, fearing for her safety, she added.
Carson and his partner were dispatched to the second call. They did not drive to her house. Instead, Carson spoke to her over the phone and failed to activate his body camera to record their conversation.
Carson and his partner — and the two officers who responded earlier that night — did not file any reports or make any arrests.
Schoeffling was found shot to death two weeks later, on July 26.
On Sept. 4, 2022, police leaders finally pulled Carson from patrol, stripped him of his police powers and assigned him to the stolen vehicle desk in the forensics division.
He did not routinely interact with the public in the role, and the job limited him from having to testify, a department spokesperson said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.
As internal investigations conclude, officer faces a suspension, then termination
As Carson sat at his desk job, his discipline piled up.
In February 2023, Norman suspended him for six days for the inappropriate texts and for failing to activate his body camera at the shooting scene.
Milwaukee police officer Gregory Carson Jr. was one of four officers disciplined for their response to 911 calls from Bobbie Lou Schoeffling reporting domestic violence. Carson and his partner were dispatched to her home in the 9000 block of West Hampton Avenue but called her instead of going to the residence. (Ebony Cox / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
That same month, Internal Affairs interviewed Carson about the complaint filed by the woman at District 7. That investigation had slowed, in part, because it was difficult to reach the woman for follow-up interviews, records show.
The woman told the Journal Sentinel that she recalled speaking to an investigator once after filing her complaint and said she received several letters from the department.
Carson told the investigator, Sgt. Adam Riley, that when he called the woman, he did not say anything suggestive, only that she was worth more than her ex-boyfriend, according to department records. He acknowledged urging her not to make a complaint.
Riley pointed out the officer appeared to have a “pattern.”
Riley asked about Carson’s court testimony in the earlier case, pointing out he knew about the allegation related to the texts before his testimony. Carson said he thought he was truthful on the stand because he did not remember the text at the time.
Carson also said the federal prosecutor who wrote the memo had “misinterpreted” their conversation. Riley asked if Carson would have done anything differently.
No, he said.
Federal and state prosecutors declined to file criminal charges of perjury or misconduct against Carson.
But the district attorney’s office did add him to the Brady list for a second time — and the false testimony cost him his job.
Norman fired him for lying under oath and for discouraging the woman at District 7 from making a complaint.
Carson’s discharge date was Aug. 28, 2024, three years after he was first placed on the Brady list in the aftermath of his domestic violence arrest.
The woman who filed the complaint against Carson and the other officer at District 7 knew Carson had been fired. Still, she has concerns about how the department investigates misconduct allegations.
“I think it’s not handled appropriately or quickly enough,” she said.
Tia Schoeffling, Bobbie Lou Schoeffling’s sister, called it “ridiculous” that an officer arrested in such a case could then respond to domestic violence victims.
She thought of Carson on desk duty for two years, collecting nearly $80,000 in annual wages while he was the subject of several ongoing internal investigations.
She questioned if it would have taken that long to investigate a regular citizen for similar allegations.
“It’s mind-blowing that he was even allowed to respond to her call,” she said.
This story is part of Duty to Disclose, an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, TMJ4 News and Wisconsin Watch. The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided financial support for this project.
News always travels fast, but it is not always accurate, which led to a Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (Cy-Fair ISD) bus driver being incorrectly accused of driving erratically while transporting students via a local news station. The district’s superintendent released a social media statement setting the record straight.
On Monday, KHOU-11 published a news article reporting that the unidentified Cy-Fair ISD bus driver was pulled over by police and administered a field sobriety test after a receiving report from a bystander claiming they “saw the bus driving erratically.”
Cy-Fair Superintendent Doug Killian released a statement Thursday defending the school bus driver and clarifying the events.
“On Monday morning, one of our new drivers hit a curb on a tight turn to avoid a vehicle in the opposite lane,” Killian stated. “A community member reported this to Harris County Precinct 5 Constables. Our team reviewed the video of the route multiple times and can definitively say the driver was not driving erratically, as it was reported.”
Killian confirmed the driver was given a field sobriety test twice by law enforcement, as was shown by KHOU-11, and both tests came back negative. The school bus driver was then taken to a clinic for drug and alcohol testing, per district protocol. Killian confirmed those tests also came back negative.
The school bus driver was reportedly back on route Friday.
In the statement, Killian expressed his disappointment in the “click-bait report” that was released by the news station and said that the district is requesting an on-air retraction and apology to the driver.
“The media story created unnecessary embarrassment for this driver and was released prior to the completion of our full investigation. It painted a negative light on the true professionalism of our CFISD bus drivers and transportation staff,” he said.
He continued that while he does not hold out hope that the retraction and apology will happen, he felt it was his duty as superintendent to publicly release the facts of the incident and that he “cannot in good conscience sit by and watch a staff member be attacked or presented in a poor light when their actions were not poor or negatively impactful to kids.”
He explained that after the school bus driver was pulled over, the students onboard behaved well despite the delay, which he attributed to the “quality of our drivers and the high expectations they set for our riders since the first day of school.”
Killian thanked the driver involved for their service and said he encourages the media to report on positive news stories throughout the school year.
On social media, Kilian’s statement was commended by the community for defending the reputation of the driver. One Facebook commenter noted that following the release of the story, “There were so many hurtful and ugly negative comments,” illustrating how a story shared on social media can quickly garner a strong public reaction, even if the facts have not been verified yet.
“This was truly a fantastic example of leadership, accountability, and standing and speaking directly to the people and FOR the people you serve,” said another Facebook comment.
Meanwhile, KHOU published an updated article Thursday noting Killian’s response and the school bus driver passing all drug and alcohol tests, adding, “That criticism came despite the fact that we reached out to Cy-Fair ISD multiple times throughout the day ahead of our story Tuesday night and shared the district’s statement that noted the driver passed two field sobriety tests and an alcohol test, but had been placed on paid leave pending drug test results.”
The news station also reported it asked Cy-Fair for access to the video exonerating the school bus driver, but the request was denied.
“The state of recruitment and retention in police agencies is in trouble.”
That’s according to a 2024 report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. And Wisconsin’s police departments aren’t strangers to the staffing shortage.
A bipartisan bill working through the state Legislature aims to alleviate some of the problem.
The proposal would allow small police departments to apply for state grants to help put a recruit through the police academy. The grants would extend after graduation and cover the costs associated with the recruit’s department field training. The bill requires the hire to stay with the department for one year.
“There’s such a need for this,” said Rep. Clinton Anderson, D-Beloit, who introduced the Assembly’s version of the bill in mid-July.
Anderson, who also introduced the bill in 2023, explained that getting it passed this session will be an uphill battle because the state budget did not fund it. Divided government and the rush to pass the budget before the federal government passed its own tax and spending bill were factors, Anderson said.
“I know I care about law enforcement. I know they say they do too,” Anderson said of Republicans.
Rep. Clinton Anderson, D-Beloit, left, addresses questions at a public hearing Jan. 24, 2024, at the State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Andy Manis for Wisconsin Watch)
If the bill were passed now, Anderson said, the GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee would need to release the funding for it. His goal, since that’s not happening, is to open up the conversation and get a public hearing. Anderson hopes Republicans will take it up later in the session.
“While I am disappointed, the advocacy does not end,” said Rep. Bob Donovan, a Republican from Greenfield who worked with Anderson to introduce the bill. “I am still pursuing this bill to show my colleagues, and the public, the need for this legislation.”
While larger departments frequently sponsor a new hire as they go through the academy and move on to field training, smaller departments often can’t afford to do that, Anderson said. Small departments pull from the few who weren’t sponsored or they may make lateral hires from other departments.
“These struggles are all too real,” wrote Sen. Jesse James, a Republican from Clark County, in an email.
James, a current police officer for the village of Cadott in Chippewa County, introduced the Senate’s version of the bill in June, weeks before Gov. Tony Evers signed the state budget.
“I think it will be a significant challenge getting the bill funded and signed into law this session,” James wrote. “I still strongly believe in the importance of this program and will continue to advocate for it as the session continues. If we can’t get it across the finish line this year, I’ll try again next year.”
Both versions of the bill were assigned to committees the same day they were introduced. Neither has progressed since.
“Even if it takes another five terms,” Anderson said, “I will keep hammering home on this. It’s really important.”
This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.
As students across Ohio prepare to return to school this fall, a local company is stepping up efforts to ensure their safety on the way there.
S.T.A.R.T. (School Transportation Active-Threat Response Training), an Ohio-based organization, has launched a Back-to-School Active Threat Awareness Campaign to help protect the more than 800,000 students who ride school buses daily in the Buckeye State.
The program offers specialized training for school bus drivers and transportation personnel to help them identify early warning signs, manage high-risk situations and take swift protective action when necessary. The goal is to close critical safety gaps in student transportation.
S.T.A.R.T., was established in 2015 by a Jim Levine, a former school resource officer who saw a major gap in student safety. The organization is headquartered in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and operates nationwide. It offers hands-on, scenario-based training developed by a team that includes current and former law enforcement officers, SWAT members, Secret Service agents, crisis response experts and mental health professionals.
The organization is a sponsor of both the Ohio Association for Pupil Transportation (OAPT) and the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT), further underscoring its commitment to student safety on a state and national level.
Law enforcement agencies across Ohio are also being encouraged to take part in the initiative to help foster a coordinated, community-based approach to student safety.
“This training is invaluable. Our drivers, aides, and supervisors truly benefit from the skills and insights they gain,” said Dale L. Dickson, director of the Licking County Educational Service Center via a press release. “I hope to see the day when this training becomes a statewide, or even nationwide, requirement for all school transportation staff.”
Levine, who is also the president and CEO of S.T.A.R.T., emphasized that back-to-school season is only the beginning of the safety and security focus around student transportation.
“We’re encouraging schools to create a year-round mindset of preparedness,” Levine said. “Drivers should be ready to respond to threats at any time, in any location.”
Authorities in Alaska found 50 pounds of dynamite on an old school bus Wednesday, reported Fox 19.
According to the news report, Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day said the property owner, who was not identified at this writing, discovered the dynamite in the school bus located on Richarson Highway. The bus was parked on his property, and he called law enforcement, which in turn contacted the FBI.
State troopers and other agencies shut down the highway for seven hours as they investigated. Agents said the dynamite was at least 20 years old and its location near the highway made it unsafe to attempt a controlled detonation.
Day told local media that authorities worked to remove the dynamite to a more appropriate location to dispose of it safely. The dynamite was doused with chemicals to keep it from exploding while it was burned. The situation was also monitored by a bomb disposal robot.
Authorities reportedly did not provide information on how the explosives got on the school bus or their intended use. Day stated that if anyone finds explosives in or on their property the best thing to do is contact law enforcement, which will assess the situation before making sure the explosives are disposed of safely.
A teen girl was struck by a school bus in Bergen County, New Jersey, reported ABC 7.
The incident reportedly occurred last Wednesday at an intersection just before 9 a.m.
According to the news report, the driver of the school bus operated by First Student, Inc., remained on the scene after the crash and cooperated with the investigation.
Police stated child was seriously injured and taken by medevac helicopter to an area hospital. It was unclear at this report how the incident took place. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing, but a preliminary information indicated it not appear a crime occurred.
Login
