Opinion | Law enforcement agencies failed to provide clear picture of State Street shooting - Madison.com

When a violent incident occurs at a high-profile location in any community, people have a right to expect that law enforcement agencies will release timely and accurate information about what has occurred. But that didn’t happen after a Madison Police officer was shot during an after-midnight incident in the 500 block of State Street on Oct. 10.

The information released created a false impression of what happened, feeding into existing concerns about how police agencies handle incidents of this kind — especially when they involve people of color.

“It is the first time in over 20 years that a Madison Police officer has been shot in the line of duty,” announced a Madison Police Department statement following the incident. The MPD linked to a statement from the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, which is charged with investigating police-involved shootings.

“At approximately 12:37 a.m., Madison police attempted to apprehend a wanted subject in the 500 block of State Street in Madison, Wis,” read the DCI statement. “The subject ran from police. During the arrest a round was fired and an officer was struck. That police officer was taken to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Another officer sustained minor injuries during the arrest.”

“Police took the wanted subject into custody, without injury,” the DOJ statement continued. “The subject was in possession of a handgun.”

Phrases like “shot in the line of duty” and “wanted subject” created a misconception of what happened when police confronted a young Black man after police saw him on the street after a court-mandated curfew. As the social justice group Freedom Inc. has suggested, the statements from the law enforcement agencies “heavily criminalized (19-year-old Katoine Richardson) and implied he was the one who shot the officer.”

A number of media outlets ran with the story, which was headline news not just in Madison but statewide. “A Fitchburg man is in jail after he allegedly shot a Madison police officer,” explained the Associated Press. “The Wisconsin State Journal reports that state investigators say the 19-year-old man shot the officer early Sunday on State Street, a pedestrian mall that links the state Capitol building with the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. They say police were trying to arrest the man when the man ran, fired a round and hit the officer in the arm and the leg.”

That made it sound like an open-and-shut case.

But it wasn't as simple as that.

Eight days after the initial report, the Division of Criminal Investigation updated its report to explain, “Richardson was in possession of a loaded handgun which he pointed at officers. During the arrest, Madison Police Officer Keith Brown fired a round, inadvertently hitting another officer. That officer was taken to a local hospital and has since been released. Another officer sustained minor injuries during the arrest. Police took Richardson into custody, without injury.”

“The police department just didn’t give the information in total that should have been given out,” said Stan Woodard, a veteran public defender who is Richardson’s attorney. “I think they really muffed this.”

The statements from law enforcement agencies have stirred an appropriate outcry from Madisonians. Richardson faces charges for resisting an officer, a weapons violation and unrelated bail violations. But Ananda Deacon, a community organizer with Freedom Action Now contends that, “Katoine is one of several Black youths that the system has over-policed, brutalized, and made to feel worthless.”

We understand there are Madisonians who may have differing opinions regarding the actions of Richardson and the police officers who were involved in this incident.

But there are some fundamental realities that cannot be ignored. The initial statements from the police and the DOJ created a false impression, as did a number of early media reports based on what was contained in the statements from those law enforcement agencies.

These sorts of scenarios foster not just confusion, but disenchantment and frustration. They lead to distrust of the police department, of outside investigators who are charged with conducting inquiries into police shootings, and of the media that relies on reports from law enforcement agencies.

source: https://madison.com/ct/opinion/editorial/opinion-law-enforcement-agencies-failed-to-provide-clear-picture-of-state-street-shooting/article_ad930bbd-6e93-514b-a07f-31cdb8143662.html

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