Milwaukee police officer who
fatally shot black man is FIRED over unrelated sexual assault charges stemming
from rape of male bar patron
Now-former police officer
Dominique Heaggan-Brown was arrested last week in Milwaukee
Accused of sexually assaulting
unidentified man while off-duty August 15
Sex complaint was made two days
after Heaggan-Brown fatally shot Sylville Smith, 23
Police say Smith was holding a
gun but his death sparked mass protests
Rape victim told investigators
Heaggan-Brown bragged he was the boss while drinking at a bar and watching TV
coverage of the protests
He said he drank too much, passed
out and woke up feeling drugged to find Heaggan-Brown sexually assaulting him
Heaggan-Brown later texted a
mentor that he had messed up 'big time' and claimed the sex was consensual
Using phone data, investigators
determined that Heaggan-Brown offered two other people money for sex several
times last year
He also allegedly sexually assaulted
and photographed an unconscious, naked person
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 12:12 EST, 1 November
2016 | UPDATED: 12:40 EST, 1 November 2016
A Milwaukee police officer who
sparked violent protests over the summer after fatally shooting a black man was
fired Monday, after he had been charged with sexually assaulting a bar patron
and another person.
Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown
was terminated as a result of the department's internal investigation into the
sexual assault charges, according to a statement from Milwaukee Police Chief
Edward Flynn.
Heaggan-Brown was ordered last
week to stand trial on five charges, including two counts of second-degree
sexual assault, in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Heaggan-Brown fatally shot
23-year-old Sylville Smith in August on Milwaukee's north side, which sparked a
weekend of violence in the Sherman Park neighborhood not far from where Smith
was killed.
The 24-year-old officer was later
accused of sexually assaulting two men and soliciting sex from two suspected
male prostitutes.
One of the men told police he
watched news coverage of the August violence while at a bar with Heaggan-Brown
a day after the officer fatally shot Smith. The man also alleged Heaggan-Brown
bragged about being able to do whatever he wanted without repercussions.
Flynn said Heaggan-Brown was
fired because he was found to be in violation of the department's code of
conduct, which in part said ‘whether on or off duty, department members shall
not behave in such a way that a reasonable person would expect that discredit
could be brought upon the department, or that it would create the appearance of
impropriety or corruptive behavior.’
Heaggan-Brown remained jailed on
$100,000 bond and was expected to be arraigned in court Friday.
The alleged victim, unidentified
in a criminal complaint, told police on August 15 that Heaggan-Brown had
sexually assaulted him while off duty.
Heaggan-Brown fatally shot
Sylville Smith on August 13. Police said Smith was brandishing a gun when he
was shot after a brief chase.
According to the criminal
complaint, Heaggan-Brown took the victim to a bar late on the night of August
14 where they drank heavily and watched TV as coverage of the protests aired.
The victim told investigators
that Heaggan-Brown bragged that he was the boss and that there were 'no
limitations' on how he lived and that he could do whatever he wanted 'without
repercussions.'
The victim told police the day
after the alleged assault that he had trouble remembering everything that
happened after they left the bar, but that he felt drugged.
He said he woke up to
Heaggan-Brown sexually assaulting him.
The complaint said Heaggan-Brown
took the man to St. Joseph's Hospital early on August 15. The officer told a
security guard who helped him wheel the man inside that the man had had too
much to drink and was 'completely out, zonked out of his gourd.'
But when nurses began providing
aid, the man 'flipped out,' grabbed a security guard's arm and exclaimed: 'He
raped me, he raped me,' indicating Heaggan-Brown.
Later that morning, Heaggan-Brown
texted his mentor, Sgt. Joseph Hall, saying he had messed up 'big time.'
'Need your help big time. ... But
need to handle this the most secret and right way possible,' the text read in
part. The sergeant told investigators that Heaggan-Brown claimed the sex was
consensual.
Flynn said Thursday that Hall
reported his contact with Heaggan-Brown to command staff but the sergeant is
under internal investigation as well. Hall remains on duty.
'We're going to get to the bottom
of what that exchange was about,' Flynn said.
Using photographs and other data
from the officer's cellphone, the complaint said, investigators determined that
Heaggan-Brown offered two other people money for sex several times — in
December 2015 and in July and August of this year — and that he sexually
assaulted another unconscious person in July, and photographed that victim
naked without that person's consent.
The charges include two felony
counts of second-degree sexual assault, two misdemeanor prostitution counts and
one felony count of capturing an intimate representation of a person without
consent.
The head of Milwaukee's police
union said in a statement that the facts of the case will dictate the outcome.
'The MPA condemns all criminal
behavior by any member of society, whether part of this organization or not,'
the union's president, Mike Crivello, said in the statement.
Heaggan-Brown joined the police
department in July 2010 as an aide.
Smith's death set off several
nights of protests in Milwaukee. Above, police move in on a crowd throwing
rocks in Milwaukee on August 14, while Haeggan-Brown was watching tv coverage
with the alleged victim
Like Smith, the man who was
fatally shot, Heaggan-Brown is black. He was assigned to patrol the city's
heavily minority north side.
Flynn has said that Smith was
fleeing from a traffic stop when he was shot. Heaggan-Brown's body camera
showed that Smith was shot after he turned toward an officer with a gun in his
hand, according to investigators.
Smith's death sparked two nights
of violence in the Sherman Park neighborhood, with several businesses burned.
It also ramped up long-festering racial tension in Milwaukee.
The Wisconsin Department of
Justice investigated Smith's death and has turned the case over to Milwaukee
County District Attorney John Chisholm for a charging decision. It's not clear
when a decision in that case will be made.
Flynn said Thursday that none of
the alleged sexual assault victims are connected to Smith's family.
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