Sergeant found wrongdoing in 2003 shooting death
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Those findings were that Officer Craig Nawotka’s actions constituted excessive force and that the man, Justin Fields, “did not have to die,” said police Sgt. Harold Hampton. Further, the first officer to talk to Nawotka after the shooting says he was never asked at an inquest into the death whether Nawotka’s statements were consistent with the physical evidence. If he had been, Detective Billy Ball said, he would have testified they were not. The revelations came to light during sworn depositions taken over the past two months in a federal wrongful death suit filed by Fields’ parents against the city. Mark Thomsen, attorney for the Fields family, on Thursday gave transcripts of the depositions to Assistant U.S. Attorney Mel Johnson, who is reviewing the Fields shooting for possible federal charges against Nawotka. Fields, of Brown Deer, was 21 when Nawotka fatally shot him in the back. Fields’ Cadillac was partially blocking N. Water St. around 2:30 a.m. March 2, 2003. A fire truck trying to get through blew its horn a couple of times to signal that he should get out of the way. The horn drew the attention of Nawotka and his partner, Thomas Brummond, who had just arrested two men for fighting outside a nearby bar. As Nawotka approached Fields’ car, it started to move forward. Nawotka drew his gun and pointed it at the car, then broke the car window and reached in to try and grab the keys. Fields drove away, and Nawotka and Brummond chased him to the intersection of King Drive and W. North Ave., where Fields’ car collided with another car, spun around, hit the curb and stopped. Hampton was “the primary fact-finder” during the police department’s internal investigation of Fields’ death, according to his deposition. Hampton determined that Nawotka’s improper actions escalated the situation and led to the pursuit. Hampton also determined that Nawotka violated departmental rules seven times by taking the following actions: • Leaving his partner alone in the squad car with the two men who had been arrested for fighting, who were not handcuffed. • Drawing his gun on Water St. • Drawing his baton on Water St. • Smashing Fields’ car window with his baton. • Reaching into the vehicle through the broken window to try and get the keys. • Engaging in a pursuit of Fields’ vehicle once Fields drove away. • Shooting Fields. Hampton also said in his deposition that he was “adamant” that Nawotka had violated department rules when he smashed Fields’ window and that if he had not done so, neither the chase nor the fatal shooting would have happened. Yet when Hampton discussed his findings with Steven Settingsgaard, then the commanding officer of the Professional Performance Division, and Capt. Mary Hoerig, they didn’t trust his conclusions. “It appeared to me that Inspector Settingsgaard, and possibly Captain Hoerig, was trying to, you know, prove that I was wrong instead of looking at the facts,” Hampton said during the deposition. In his own deposition, Settingsgaard, now Chief of Police in Peoria, Ill., conceded that Nawotka’s breaking of the window was inappropriate and unreasonable, but he said there was no specific department rule that prohibits such actions. Neither Hoerig nor Settingsgaard could be reached late Thursday. Nawotka ultimately was administratively charged only with engaging in a vehicle pursuit while transporting prisoners. He was suspended without pay for 30 days and has been back on the job ever since. Hampton, who remains a sergeant but has been transferred out of the Professional Performance Division, said in the deposition that he still disagrees with his superiors’ decision to rule the shooting justified. “In that situation, Justin Fields did not have to die,” Hampton said. “There is no one that could convince me that it was right for Mr. Fields to lose his life under the circumstances that started out as a traffic stop, no.” Fields is among about two dozen unarmed drivers fired upon by Milwaukee police officers over the past 20 years, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis of newspaper archives, records from the district attorney’s office and court files. The officers involved - including Nawotka - have defended their actions by saying the cars were weapons and they shot in self defense, an argument rejected more and more often by law enforcement agencies around the country, including the Los Angeles Police Department. The newspaper’s review also found that no police shooting inquest in Milwaukee County over the past 20 years has resulted in charges against an officer. |