MILWAUKEE — One former Milwaukee police officer and one officer still employed by the department face criminal charges in connection with the death of a man last February inside District 5, TMJ4 News has learned.
Keishon Thomas was found dead inside his cell at the district, 16 hours after he was put in lockup.
A criminal complaint released Friday states former officer Donald Kreuger failed to provide adequate medical attention and Officer Marco Lopez falsified logs to show he checked on Thomas while he was in custody.
They are charged with abuse of a person in custody and misconduct in office.
The criminal complaint says Krueger failed multiple times to call for an ambulance despite saying he was going to. The complaint says, "instead [Krueger] places [Thomas] in the cell where he would later die."
Lopez is accused of falsifying his cell check logbook at least 10 times. During those times, the complaint says surveillance video shows him talking to other officers, playing videos on a computer and painting a small object. The following is a log from the criminal complaint detailing what Lopez was doing during those missed checks.
Additionally, Lopez's prisoner counts were off. It started with four inmates with several inmates being shuffled in and out, ending with just two in the cell towards the end of Lopez's shift. His notes showed multiple inaccuracies of how many were actually in the cells. The complaint says Lopez entered the cell area six times without walking towards the actual cell block.
Lopez also told investigators he was aware of MPD's Standard Operating Procedure, requiring cell checks every 15 minutes. He said he was doing "audio checks" which are not an accepted way to check cells in the SOP.
The I-Team discovered radio transmissions from paramedics who responded to the scene show Thomas was dead for so long his body had grown cold.
"Last known well, 16 hours"
MPD spoke to the I-Team after this was discovered saying, "video exists of officers checking on Thomas between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m." but the video of those visits was deliberately left out of the community briefing video released on Apr. 8, 2022 because it only showed officers walking past the cell and not much else. Regarding the logs of the cell visits, MPD told the I-Team, "visits to [Thomas'] cell were logged" but MPD could not provide the last time Thomas was checked on before he was found unresponsive.
Four days after the I-Team's report on the paramedic audio, Chief Jeffrey Norman was questioned about why all but one of the cell checks were edited from the community briefing video.
"This video encompasses a number of different hours, a span of hours," Norman said on Apr. 12, 2022. "When we were reporting out, we had to be sensitive in regards to how to appropriately reflect what had took place and be able to report out to our public who was looking for an answer of what goes on within our police department."
According to Milwaukee police, Krueger was charged with one count of Abuse of Resident of Penal Facility. If convicted, he could face up to 3 years, 6 months in prison and could be fined up to $10,000. He was placed on full suspension at the time of the incident. Police said Friday he retired in November of 2022 with 25 years of service. MPD said Lopez was charged with one count of Misconduct in Public Office (False Entry). If convicted, he could face up to 3 years, 6 months in prison and could be fined up to $10,000. Lopez has over 12 years of service with the department and is currently on full suspension.
According to a statement from MPD on Friday, "The Milwaukee Police Department holds all members to the highest degree of integrity and if any member violates the code of conduct they will be held accountable. Our members must not discredit what this department stands for, particularly when taking an oath to preserve and protect life. The Milwaukee Police Department extends its deepest sympathies to the Thomas family on the loss of their loved one."
As TMJ4 News previously reported, while Thomas is being processed, twice he’s able to ingest drugs that he had on him. The first instance, he lunges into the back of the police vehicle while officers are removing him from the squad. Later, while he’s sitting and waiting to be booked, Thomas reaches into his pants and is able to ingest a bag of suspected drugs. He attempts to ingest a second bag, but drops it.
Police suggest taking Thomas to the hospital after he tells them he has taken “a lot” of drugs. Police say, Thomas formally declined to be taken to the hospital by filling out a medical questionnaire. He was then taken to a holding cell.
Attorneys for the family, Ben Crump and Steven Hart, issued the following statement:
"Keishon’s death could have been prevented if the officers who were responsible for him at the time of his arrest followed the protocol. Keishon’s family will never know if he could have been saved by proper medical attention. Officer Lopez lied about following protocol and checking on the inmate he was responsible for, and Krueger didn’t give Keishon the medical attention he obviously needed when he saw him dry heave. The role of police officers is to help people, but when Keishon needed help the most, he was ignored and left to die.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Background on District 5 death and shooting
The Milwaukee Police Department previously released two edited videos of the in-custody death of Keishon Thomas, as well as the District 5 lobby shooting.
The first incident (YouTube link) happened on Feb. 23. Thomas was pulled over by police near 22nd and Capitol for a traffic violation around 1:55 a.m. There was a warrant for him tied to other traffic violations, so he was arrested and taken to District 5.
Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said drugs were also recovered. In the officer's body camera video, Thomas is heard saying, "I ate the little, the little smoke I had."
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District 5 bookers conducted multiple cell checks, but shortly before 6 p.m., Thomas was found unresponsive. Despite life-saving measures, Thomas was pronounced dead, police said.
Two days later on Feb. 25, Thomas' friend, 23-year-old Darreon Parker-Bell, went into the District 5 lobby and opened fire, according to video released by police (YouTube link).
Surveillance video shows the moment when Parker-Bell pulled out a handgun and fired one round at the ground before firing another shot at an officer. A third shot was fired towards the counter.
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Surveillance video then shows an officer fire back at Parker-Bell, who then fled the scene.
Officers followed Parker-Bell to the 2900 block of North 6th Street, where multiple officers fired and hit him several times, according to police.
The 23-year-old Milwaukee man was transported to the hospital with nonfatal injuries. No one else was injured during the incident. The firearm was recovered.
After two weeks in the hospital, Parker-Bell was moved to the Milwaukee County Jail.
He is facing one count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon in addition to seven counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety following the Feb. 25 incident.
Thomas’ family is asking for the full video to be released. They say they’re not okay with the 17-minute of video that was released today.
— Ubah Ali (@UbahDAli) April 8, 2022
- They are demanding full transparency https://t.co/LW7mXlSduZ
Thomas' family say the most painful thing for them is watching nearly 20 minutes of video and still not knowing what happened
They say the video only left them with more questions, including why he wasn't taken to the hospital.
Jennifer Garcia is Keishon Thomas' cousin and says it's been a tough couple of months for the family.
The video family saw differs from what was shown to the public in two ways.
It shows what appears to be an officer observing Thomas' cell and shows Thomas' body removed from that cell on a sheet.
The family asked for that last part to be kept from the public.
But, they want more details on how many times officers checked on Thomas' health.
"Not being able to see how many times he was checked on. How many cell checks there were," Garcia said.
TMJ4 asked Garcia what the family of Thomas demands from Milwaukee Police Department. "Everything that involves Keishon and the time he was at the police department," Garcia stated.
The family also want answers on why Thomas was not taken to the hospital after officers knew he swallowed drugs.
"When the question is asked are you doing ok, and you say no I feel bad, I feel bad. I think that should have been enough," Garcia said. "Once they knew he took something I think that should have been the moment."
Ultimately, Garcia said the family must learn to live in a world without him in it.
"The most important thing is that this could have been prevented," Garcia stated.
While the family of Thomas waits for more information, they have hired a lawyer. Notable Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump has taken on their case.
Watch the press conference here:
