Sterling Brown, a guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, has reached a $750,000 settlement against the city of Milwaukee for a violent arrest that occurred back in 2018. The lawsuit was filed against the city as well as the police department after Brown was assaulted and arrested over an alleged parking violation.
What We Know:
- On January 26, 2018, the Milwaukee police department released the bodycam footage of the altercation with Brown. Before the release of the video, officers had made claims that Brown was threatening or violent which lead to him being tased and arrested.
- Brown sued the police department because claiming he was racially profiled. According to The Grio, a group of officers had surrounded Brown while he was in the Walgreens parking lot due to him not removing his hands from his pockets immediately.
- The officer involved in the incident, Erik Andrade, had gone to Twitter to mock Brown saying, “Nice meeting Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks at work this morning! Lol#FearTheDeer”. Andrade was later fired due to the social media post.
- Recently, Brown joined Baron Davis and Chole Cheyenne during an NBPA B.I.G Town Hall Series to discuss police reform.
Change the system.
During last week’s NBPA B.I.G Town Hall Series, Sterling Brown joined @BaronDavis and Chloe Cheyenne to talk about police reform and the importance of voting the right legislation into office to help push for change. pic.twitter.com/raEtRqzz99
— NBPA (@TheNBPA) October 5, 2020
- On Monday, November 9, The Milwaukee Bucks issued a statement:
“We are pleased that Sterling’s lawsuit has been mutually resolved and that there’s been an important commitment by the City of Milwaukee and its Police Department to make changes to the MPD’s standard operating procedures…No one should ever have to go through the horrifying abuse and injustice that Sterling experienced. We commend Sterling for his courageous response to this terrible situation by repeatedly sharing his story and working tirelessly with countless local groups and organizations to help make change in our community. And we also commend the City’s leadership for its commitment to implement these important changes to better Milwaukee.”
In addition to the settlement, Brown wants the Milwaukee police department to admit to violating his civil rights and asked for there to be procedural changes within the department, that must go into effect within 180 days of the agreement.
