Dontre Hamilton Protesters Arrested For Marching On Milwaukee Freeway

Fourteen people were taken into custody on Saturday for marching on a local freeway while calling for criminal charges to be brought against the now-fired police officer who shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a unarmed 31-year-old man, in April.

Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputies took the 12 adults and two children into custody for marching on Interstate 794 on Saturday afternoon. Three of the adults had come to Wisconsin from Ferguson, Missouri and were held in jail until Sunday, when they paid more than $600 each in citations.

Protestor Raspy Rawls told a Sunday afternoon news conference outside the Milwaukee jail that marching with children on freeways was justified.

“What we have to do, we have to do,” said Rawls. “I know some people don’t agree with what we doin’, they may feel a certain way about it. But if I have to be uncomfortable, everybody will be uncomfortable.”

Rawls said given various police killings and beatings of African-American men around the U.S, he worries about doing even simple thing like going to the corner store.

The protesters from Missouri are working with a Milwaukee coalition seeking criminal charges against Christopher Manney, the white police officer who killed Hamilton, a black man with a history of mental illness. Manney shot Hamilton more than a dozen times during an altercation at a downtown Milwaukee park on April 30.

One of the local protestors, Vaun Mayes said there’s a reason the demonstrations have gone from private meetings to street and freeway marches.

“When you try to be civil with somebody and they don’t respond to you, you go to the next level,” said Mayes. “Otherwise you’ll sit there in the same situation while they continue on with their lives and are content, while we are miserable.”

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said he’s waiting for reports from outside experts before deciding whether to charge Manney. Meanwhile, more protests over Hamilton’s death are planned for this week.