Milwaukee County DA Won’t Press Charges In Death Of Black Teen, Causing Public Outcry

Editor’s Note: Details have been added from the 4 p.m. broadcast of this story.

A rally on Friday afternoon will aim to pressure prosecutors to take action in the case of Corey Stingley, an African-American teenager who died while in a West Allis store.

West Allis police found Corey Stingley not breathing on Dec. 14, 2012, after three white men restrained the young black man when they saw him shoplifting.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced last week that a John Doe investigation showed the men didn’t intend to harm Stingley and were unaware he was in distress. Chisholm has declined to file charges.

Several protests have followed. Milwaukee County Supervisor David Bowen urges Chisholm to reconsider and file charges.

“The public has seen time and time again where people have done things that they did not intend to do, but still took a life in that situation,” said Bowen. “We’ve seen them be charged with some level of accountability.”

The Milwaukee County medical examiner has ruled there was a homicide in the Stingley case, but legally, that simply means death at the hands of another and is different than the standard for a criminal charge.

The release of a store video this week, along with the medical examiner’s ruling, have many urging criminal charges. Civil rights lawyer Arthur Heitzer said the case is worth taking to court.

“Did these three individuals who decided to restrain him to the point of choking him to death recklessly cause his death?” Heitzer said.

Heitzer said given deaths of other African-Americans at the hands of citizens acting without police approval, some minorities are losing faith in the legal system. He said the U.S. Department of Justice needs to investigate the Stingley case.