Brookfield Woman Unlawfully Arrested

By: Nik Clark(10/08/2010)

http://www.uscca.us/ccr/view_post.php?postId=101

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Brookfield and 4 Brookfield Police officers who unlawfully arrested one of our
members on July 4th 2010.

A copy of this lawsuit is available here.

Our member who has been a victim of violent crime in the past openly carries a sidearm for personal protection as Wisconsin law allows. On July 4th she was attending church services in Brookfield, WI. After the
service, a church member called the non-emergency number of the
Brookfield Police Department to inquire as to the legality of
open-carry. Brookfield Police responded to the call by sending several
officers/squads to the church. On the way to the church the officers
were made aware by the dispatcher that our member was not being
threatening or creating a disturbance. As our member was leaving the
parking lot in her vehicle. A Brookfield Police officer waved her down
drew his weapon and ordered her out of her car at gunpoint.

As open-carry is perfectly legal in Wisconsin and the officers were aware our member had threatened no one and caused no disturbance, the officers had no reasonable articulable suspicion, which the law
requires, to stop and detain our member against her will. In addition,
by drawing their guns on a law-abiding citizen who had done nothing
wrong, the officers used an unlawful threat of deadly force during their
unlawful detainment of our member. The police proceeded to, without
reasonable suspicion or probable cause that any crime had occurred,
conduct an unlawful and unconstitutional search of our members person
and car. Our member was then unlawfully arrested and taken to the
Brookfield Police Department for processing.

Wisconsin Carry has filed this lawsuit to obtain damages on behalf of our member for the unlawful arrest and violations of her civil rights by the Brookfield Police Department. On behalf of our members all
across the state, Wisconsin Carry continues to establish a precedent
that departments who violate the rights of law-abiding Wisconsinites who
legally carry in the only manner Wisconsin Law allows "open carry" will
face legal consequences.

In a virtually identical situation in San Diego, CA a person lawfully open carrying was detained/arrested in a similar manner. Within the last few weeks that case resulted in a $35,000 settlement from the City
of San Diego paid to the man unlawfully arrested at gunpoint. Details
of that case can be viewed here:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=347348

Wisconsin Carry, Inc. has also obtained a $10,000 judgement in Federal Court against the city of Racine earlier this year for an unlawful arrest of one of our members who was approached by police
merely because he was legally open carrying.

Wisconsin Carry is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the protection and expansion of the right to carry in Wisconsin. We believe that "conceal carry" and "open carry" are choices to be made by the
law-abiding citizen based on their own preference, not the government's.
As open carry is generally the only legal way to exercise the right to
carry in Wisconsin provided by our state and federal constitution, we
advocate that people who wish to carry follow the law and open carry
while our organization seeks to expand the right right to carry in
Wisconsin to include conceal carry. Our website is
www.wisconsincarry.org

Carry On,

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc.
nik@wisconsincarry.org