Prosecutors charged a former Milwaukee police officer on Thursday with homicide in the fatal shooting of a Black man in August that set off a riot, the Washington Post reports.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm alleges that video evidence shows that Sylville Smith threw away his weapon and was on the ground when Dominique Heaggan-Brown shot him in the chest.
Heaggan-Brown, who is also Black, faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted on the first-degree reckless homicide charge.
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A special agent with the state’s Department of Justice investigated the shooting and based much of his report on body camera footage.
According to the criminal complaint, the video shows Smith, 23, throwing his gun over a fence between two houses when confronted by the police. Heaggan-Brown, 24, fired a single shot while Smith was tossing the gun, hitting him in the right biceps.
Smith fell to the ground, and Heaggan-Brown fired a second shot two seconds after the first shot, hitting him in the chest.
Heaggan-Brown claimed in an interview with investigators that he shot Smith the second time because he reached toward his waist. However, the footage shows that Smith was unarmed and had his hands near his head at the time of the second shot, the complaint states.
Days later, during the rioting, a man contacted the police and accused Heaggan-Brown of rape.
After investigating the allegation, the police arrested Heaggan-Brown in October and charged him with sexually assaulting two incapacitated men, taking nude photos of unsuspecting victims and trying to pay for sex.
Prosecutors charged him with second-degree sexual assault, as well as two counts of soliciting prostitution. The Milwaukee Police Department fired him after that arrest.
SOURCE: Washington Post
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