$2.3M Settlement After Man Shot 14 Times By Milwaukee Police

MILWAUKEE, WI — The child of a black man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014 will receive $2.3 million under a settlement approved Wednesday by the Milwaukee Common Council. Dontre Hamilton, 31, was unarmed when he was shot 14 times by Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manney.

An employee at a downtown Starbucks reported Hamilton, who was sleeping in a public park downtown, to police on April 30, 2014. Manney was attempting to frisk Hamilton for weapons when Hamilton grabbed the police officer’s baton, prompting Manney to open fire, discharging his weapon 14 times in a matter of two to three seconds, according to a report from the Milwaukee County district attorney.

Manney was subsequently fired for failure to follow department procedure after investigators determined the pat-down was unnecessary.

The settlement agreement was unanimously approved by those voting, but one alderman abstained, saying he didn’t think Manney had done anything wrong. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is expected to sign off on the settlement agreement within the next 10 days. The lawsuit, filed by Hamilton’s family in April 2016, said the officer’s conduct “occurred as a direct result of the unconstitutional policies of the city of Milwaukee." (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Milwaukee Patch, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and click here to find your local Wisconsin Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Criminal charges weren’t filed against Manney, and the Department of Justice declined to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. Claiming he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of killing Hamilton, Manney applied for and received a $70,000 disability pension from the Milwaukee Police Department.

Hamilton was shot several months before the Aug. 9, 2014, shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, launched the Black Lives Matter movement. Rallies supporting Brown began in Milwaukee, where protesters led by Jesse Jackson Sr. linked the Brown and Hamilton shootings. More rallies followed in the coming weeks and months, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he was prepared to call out the Wisconsin National Guard if necessary to quell violence after federal prosecutors declined to file charges against Manney.

Nate Hamilton, the victim’s brother, told the Associated Press the settlement is of little comfort to his family. They are still pressing for criminal charges against Manney.

“We don’t forgive the city of Milwaukee,” Nate Hamilton said. “This settlement doesn’t make us sleep better at night.”

In a statement, attorneys representing Dontre Hamilton’s son said the money will be deposited into a fund that he can draw from when he reaches adulthood.

The fatal shooting of Hamilton and several other high-profile cases prompted calls for reform in the way Milwaukee police deal with mentally ill and minority community members. A federal review was requested by Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn.

Earlier this year, the Milwaukee Common Council approved a $2.5 million settlement to a woman who was raped in 2010 by a police officer who was responding to a 911 call. That officer, Ladmarald Case, was also fired, and he is serving a 24-year prison sentence in connection with the crime.

In 2015, the city agreed to pay $5 million to settle civil rights lawsuits filed by 74 African-Americans who said they had been subjected to illegal body cavity and strip searches by police officers who said they were looking for drugs.

Image: Maria Hamilton, whose 31-year-old son Dontre was shot and killed by former Milwaukee Police Officer Christopher Manney, speaks to the Department of Justice Press Secretary Kevin Lewis, during the Million Mom March, organized by Mothers for Justice, on May 9, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images News/Getty Images)