Police win in final legal battle over Wauwatosa's 2020 protests
The jury reached a verdict for what's left of the legal battle from Wauwatosa's 2020 protests sparked by police killings, including former Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah's shooting of 17-year-old Alvin Cole.
In the federal case, 57 plaintiffs claimed their rights under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act were violated by the Wauwatosa Police Department's crime analyst Dominick Ratkowski and Lt. Joseph Roy. Jurors decided on May 5 that privacy rights were not violated.
More: 'The police are making us look bad': Protesters march through Wauwatosa calling for change
WPD staff did not violate privacy rights in target list and Dropbox link, jury decides
Federal Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph dismissed some claims in March, but whether plaintiffs' DPPA rights were violated by WPD's Ratkowski and Roy still went to the trial.
Here's what the plaintiffs' case, Aaron et al v. Ratkowski et al, covered:
44 plaintiffs were featured on a "target list" created by Ratkowski. The target list included names, addresses, vehicle information and photos of officials, activists, a Wisconsin Examiner journalist, and more. Ratkowski testified that someone could be added to the list for simply attending a protest. He also emailed the list to a Milwaukee County detective and wrote, "feel free to pass it along"
32 plaintiffs were included in a Dropbox link shared by Roy. The link contained over 500 pages of unredacted documents, including police reports and citations, as well as hours of police footage, including names of informants who were promised anonymity
To establish a DPPA violation, it must be proven that the defendants obtained, disclosed or used personal information from a motor vehicle record for a purpose that isn't permitted. The jury found that DPPA rights were not violated.
Here are the protest cases that didn't go to trial
Here's what was dismissed leading up to May 5's verdict:
The first federal case, Radke v. the city of Wauwatosa, was dismissed by Judge Lynn Adelman last year. It claimed that protesters' First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble were violated by the city's emergency curfew, and that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated after WPD used excessive force
In March, Judge Joseph dismissed claims in Knowlton v. the city of Wauwatosa that certain arrests made and citations that were issued, as well as the mayor's emergency curfew, violated plaintiffs' constitutional rights
More: Was Wauwatosa's curfew and emergency proclamation necessary? Here's what city officials think.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wauwatosa police 'target list' didn't violate privacy, jury decides
