A former Milwaukee police officer will not be charged for fatally shooting an unarmed black man earlier this year. Christopher Manney shot Dontre Hamilton 14 times in downtown Milwaukee on Apr. 30.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, two other officers were summoned to Red Arrow Park after a Starbucks employee phoned them about Hamilton sleeping in the park. The initial encounter went without conflict, as did a follow-up when the same officers returned to check on Hamilton roughly 10 minutes later.
However, Manney reportedly responded to a desk call about Hamilton, unaware that two other officers had already handled the situation. When he found Hamilton sleeping in the park, the incident turned tragic after he tried to pat him down:
Manney tried to use his baton to subdue Hamilton, but Hamilton got control of it and swung it at Manney, hitting him on the side of the neck. Manney then shot Hamilton repeatedly.
Although Manney was ultimately fired, District Attorney John Chisholm determined that there was not enough evidence to charge him for Hamilton's death:
[B]ased on all the evidence and analysis presented in this report, I come to the conclusion that Officer Manney's use of force in this incident was justified self-defense and that defense cannot be reasonably overcome to establish a basis to charge Officer Manney with a crime.
