Michael Bell wants the bullet Kenosha police fired at his son during a fatal 2004 shooting
Michael Bell keeps finding new ways to raise the pressure on various officials to reopen the investigation into his son's fatal 2004 shooting by Kenosha police, details of which he contends have been covered up.
His latest move came Monday during a meeting of the Kenosha City Council. Bell made an offer: If the city will finally agree to allow his experts to test a bullet from the shooting, he will release the city and its insurer from any future damages he might win in future lawsuits.
He's following up with full-page ads in newspapers in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Madison, along with billboards and TV spots for years to press his cause.
It's a tactic he has used in the past. The offer is good until June 1.
“As cities like Chicago, Minneapolis and Philadelphia strain under lawsuits from past police issues, I am offering the citizens of Kenosha a clear and cost-effective way forward,” Bell said in a news release. “No money, just truth.”
In addressing the council, Bell brought up Chicago and the more than $190 million it has paid out over the years for the crimes and corruption of former police commander Jon Burge. Wouldn't Chicago have been smart to take an indemnity deal and reveal the truths of Burge's conduct much earlier, Bell wondered.
Bell also asked Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian if his refusal to release the bullet is vindictive. He reminded aldermen the city could still face the consequences of Antaramian's actions when he leaves office.
"Show some courage," he urged the council. "Release the bullet, let the attorneys talk, with the protection of indemnity."
At least one alderman voiced support for Bell's offer. Holly Kangas said though she feared ostracization by her colleagues, she called for the bullet's release.
"He's just a father who is terribly broken," Kangas said. "And he needs closure. The bullet would give him closure."
Bell said eight other alderman have since considered meeting with him individually.
'He's got my gun'
Kenosha police pulled over Michael Bell Jr. early Nov. 9, 2004, as he was arriving home. They say he was uncooperative, which led to a struggle in the family's driveway.
As he was being held down over a car, one officer yelled, "He's got my gun," prompting another officer to shoot Bell, 21, in the head in front of his mother and sister.
Bell, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, maintains no agency has ever conducted a thorough investigation into his son's death; the Kenosha police chief cleared his officers three days after the shooting.
Over the years, Bell has appealed unsuccessfully to governors, attorneys general, local and federal prosecutors and other officials to reopen the matter.
According to Bell's privately-funded ongoing investigation, testing has shown signs of lead in a dent in the aluminum trim around the garage door near where his son was shot. He wants to test the bullet KPD says it gathered during its investigation to see if it matched the trace lead on the door trim. If so, the finding would support his theory of how police shot and killed his son, and contradict the KPD's version.
RELATED: Father of man killed by police in Kenosha reveals more evidence he says supports new investigation
Bell first sought the bullet in 2020. He sued late last year after the city's continued refusal to the release the bullet. Circuit Judge Chad Kerkman dismissed the case, which is now on appeal.
The city argues Bell really has no standing or claim. Bell's lawyer argued the city has offered no other explanation for blocking the testing, and whatever reasons it might offer, "are unlikely to outweigh both Mr. Bell's and the public's interest in an accurate accounting of this tragic incident."
The city already has paid $1.75 million to settle Bell's initial wrongful death lawsuit. He used much of it to fund efforts to reform police accountability for incidents of deadly force and investigate his son's death and Kenosha officials' reactions to it.
Bell got some results. In 2014, Wisconsin became the first state to require outside investigations when people die at the hands of law enforcement officers or while in custody of a law enforcement agency.
The officer who shot Bell, Albert Gonzales, wrote a book about the incident in 2020. Bell sued Gonzales for libel. The case is pending. Gonzales is now running for sheriff of Kenosha County.
The officer who initially stopped Bell and yelled, "He's got my gun," during the struggle, Erich Strausbaugh, 34, killed himself in 2010, a few months after Kenosha settled Bell Sr.'s wrongful death lawsuit.
In 2017, Bell released a 20-minute documentary about the actions he believes officials took to cover up what really happened when his son was killed.
Bell believes Strausbaugh's gun holster had caught on the outside mirror of the car, making him think someone was tugging at the weapon. Physical evidence from the scene contradicted the Kenosha police narrative of what happened. Among the assertions that were questionable was the fact the younger Bell was shot in the right side of his head, not the left as police first said.
A reenactment later by Kenosha police that tried to account for the head wound still left contradictions with other evidence, such as the location of the spent shell from the officer's gun.
In 2018, Bell sought to have a John Doe hearing into the case. A Racine County judge in 2019 denied the petition, even while noting contradictory evidence regarding where Gonzales and three other officers were positioned during the shooting.
Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Michael Bell wants Kenosha police bullet that killed his son
