WAUWATOSA, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network-WSAU) Wauwatosa police are investigating after a crowd of protestors surrounded and vandalized the home of an officer under investigation for a shooting.
50 to 60 people gathered outside the home of Officer Joseph Mensah’s girlfriend on Saturday night. Toilet paper was thrown into trees and windows were broken. Mensah went outside to speak with the protesters and was assaulted. Police say someone fired a shotgun into Mensah’s back door.
A statement from Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride says: “The City of Wauwatosa has always supported and protected the right to peaceful protest. Last night’s event was not a peaceful protest; it was criminal behavior. If the perpetrators of this criminal behavior are identified, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.” McBride has suggested that Officer Mensah “transition from the Wauwatosa Police Department’s employment.”
Mensah has shot and killed three people in the last 5 years. Two of those deaths were ruled justified, while the most recent one is still being investigated by the state Department of Justice. He’s been suspended by the city’s Police and Fire Commission, with pay, since July.
