Two Milwaukee police officers have been charged with a crime because of the February 2022 death of Keishon Thomas while he was in police custody.
Donald Krueger has been charged with one felony count of mistreating a prisoner. One felony count of misconduct in public office is brought against Marco Lopez (false entry).
In a statement, MPD said that at the time, both men were put on full suspension. Krueger will leave his job in November 2022 after 25 years. Lopez has served for more than 12 years, but he is still suspended.
Thomas was arrested near 20th and Capitol around 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, because he was speeding. Two years ago, he was wanted for theft.
Around 3 a.m., Thomas was put in a holding cell without any trouble. During a 6 p.m. check of the cell block, an officer saw that Thomas wasn’t breathing. Even though people tried to save his life, he was declared dead at Police District 5 shortly after 6 p.m.
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The cause of death, according to a report from the medical examiner’s office, was “acute mixed drug intoxication.
The body camera of the officer who arrested Thomas showed that he was taken into custody without any problems. Later, though, when police took Thomas out of the squad at District 5, the video shows what looks like a clear plastic baggie on the floorboard of the vehicle.
A white rock-like substance that looks like drugs can also be seen on the seat where Thomas was sitting. The video then shows Thomas lunging toward that thing, and an officer can be heard saying –
“He’s trying to eat it!”
The officer then pulls Thomas away from the substance before Thomas can eat it. The following conversation is then shown on the video –
Officer: “OK, so there’s one rock, where’s the other one?”
Thomas: “I have no more, I ate them.”
Officer: “You ate them?”
Thomas: “I ate the little, the little smoke I had.”
Thomas was then taken to a desk in the garage, where the search continued. It looked like more drugs were found in the left front pocket of his pants.
Thomas stated, “Weed that I eat” and, “But honestly, I only had one piece.” The criminal complaint says that officers then led Thomas from the garage to the room where people are held.
Then, a standard medical questionnaire was given to Thomas, during which he seemed alert. Krueger did the health screen, and all the questions on the health screen were answered. The complaint says that Krueger does not write anywhere on the health screen that Thomas said he had taken drugs.
In the video, Krueger says, “I’m about to throw up” as he is booking Thomas. Krueger gives Thomas a trash can and tells him to hold on to it while he pukes. Krueger saw that Thomas was sweating at this time.
In the complaint, it says that Krueger said, “I’m going to send him to the hospital for the ingestion” when Thomas was sick. But Krueger didn’t call an ambulance or get Thomas medical help. Instead, he put Thomas in a cell. Krueger does this after hearing that Thomas took a “rock” of crack, “a lot” of ecstasy at first, then only one and a half pills, and marijuana.
Lopez took over when Krueger’s time as the District 5 booker was over. According to the complaint, booking officers must check on detainees every 15 minutes, and the Milwaukee Police Department keeps track of these checks on cell block sheets.
The complaint says that when the surveillance video and Lopez’s booking sheet are looked at together, the cell block sheet is full of mistakes. Lopez seems to have missed 10 checks during his shift, even though he marked them as done. Instead, prosecutors said he seemed to be using his phone, talking to other officers, and even painting.
In the complaint, it is also said that Lopez gave the wrong number of people who were being held in the cells. He also said he conducted a “audio check” at times – which prosecutor say “is no such thing.”
In a statement, Lopez told investigators –
“There is no requirement to wake prisoners up. I think you are supposed to visibly check on prisoners.”
He also said that Thomas snored most of the time, but he didn’t know why he would have needed medical help.
Thomas died when neither Krueger nor Lopez was on duty. While doing cell checks, an officer on duty found Thomas not responding. He called for help, but Thomas was later pronounced dead.
