A man and a woman arrested last month at a Wisconsin Applebee’s were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after Kenosha police officers learned they were not the couple they were looking for in a hit-and-run accident.
The couple involved in the vehicle crash were hiding in the restaurant’s restroom.
Kenosha police said the incident began at about 11 p.m. on July 20. The suspects were described to police as two Black men and a woman in a red shirt carrying a baby, WISN reported. Police say Applebee’s employees called police shortly after the crash and said a group had come into restaurant and were behaving nervously, Kenosha News said.
Officers arrived and saw a couple with a baby seated at a table “matching the description in the restaurant though the female had a white shirt instead of a red one,” the arrest report says.
The white officers asked the couple to identify their car and disputed their claim to have been at the restaurant for 90 minutes, telling them they’d been there for 20 minutes. The man, carrying the baby, attempted to walk past the officers, who slammed him to the floor and began barking orders at him.
The woman yelled for someone to get the baby while police officers went after her as well.
“Despite being assisted by the Pleasant Prairie Police, (the man) continued to try to pull away and had to be decentralized to the ground. While (the man) was on the ground, he was ordered to put his hands behind his back and (an officer) delivered several strong side hand and forearm strikes in order [to] ensure compliance,” according to the complaints.
In the video of the incident filmed by Applebee’s employees, “several strong hand and forearm strikes in order [to] ensure compliance” look very much like repeated punches by one officer as another officer held the man down.
“(Police) came in and asked (the family) to show them what car they came in, so they could verify if they were in the car accident or not,” said Jennifer Harris, the manager on duty that night. “The guy didn’t want to comply, he had his baby in his arms. (The officers) kept telling him he’s not under arrest, but he’s detained, and needed to answer this question. He was trying to say he needed to change his son’s diaper. He tried to go the other way, they tackled him into a wall and the baby hit its head on the wall. They continued to tackle him to the ground with the baby in his arms.”
Local media did not name the couple involved, but said they were 24 and 21 and from Illinois. In addition to resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, the woman was charged with possession of marijuana, which is legal in Illinois but not in Wisconsin.
Eventually, police learned the hit-and-run suspects were hiding in the restroom.
Community activists have demanded that the charges against the couple be dropped and that all body camera video be released. The man was taken to a hospital for treatment, but the extent of his injuries were unclear.
“We really are disheartened by how the police officers chose to go to that family,” Tanya McLean, executive director of Leaders of Kenosha, said during a protest Wednesday evening. “There was just a lack of de-escalation. Everything happened so quickly. It elevated so quickly. It just didn’t seem that anyone was a voice of reason that had a uniform on. The only person that seemed to have a voice of reason was the Applebee’s employees, you know, trying to get the baby. But the police officers, it just does not appear that they were using good judgement and that’s just not OK.”
Harris, the Applebee’s manager that night, was fired from her job after management blamed her for the videos taken of the incident.
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[Featured image: Kenosha News screenshot]