UPDATE: Judge finds probable cause to charge Wisconsin officer in 2016 death of Black man
In this Oct. 2020, file photo, protesters and police line up in Wauwatosa, Wis., in the case against Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah for the Feb. 2 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Alvin Cole at Mayfair Mall. A Wisconsin judge was set to announce Wednesday, July 28, 2021, whether he will invoke a rarely used process to charge Mensah in the 2016 slaying of a Black man who was sitting in a parked car. [AP Photo/Morry Gash]
A Wisconsin judge has found probable cause to charge a police officer in the 2016 slaying of a Black man, years after prosecutors declined to file charges.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro said Wednesday there was cause to charge Joseph Mensah with homicide by negligent use of a weapon in the shooting death of Jay Anderson Jr. in Wauwatosa in 2016.
Prosecutors cleared Mensah, who is also Black, of any criminal wrongdoing soon after the shooting, but Anderson’s family asked Yamahiro to review the case through the state’s little-used John Doe process.
It allows a judge to question witnesses directly and to decide whether to file charges.
Editor’s Note: The Associated Press has withdrawn its initial report about an officer who shot a Black man who was sitting in a parked car in 2016. The officer has not yet been charged. AP has published a corrected version of the report and this copy reflects the correction.