No one was disciplined as a result of several missteps by Milwaukee police personnel, according to a summary of the internal investigation released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a result of a public records request.
The Police Department has made several changes in policy and training to avoid a similar situation in the future, according to a separate report, which Chief Edward Flynn plans to share Thursday with the civilian Fire and Police Commission.
The incident began when Milwaukee police received a call Nov. 14 from a woman who said she was concerned about Ashanti Hendricks, 22, being at the hospital because he had a history of mistreating his former girlfriend and their new baby, records say. There was a warrant out for Hendricks' arrest, and he had a habit of carrying a gun, the caller said.
Milwaukee police officers Alexis Acosta and Matthew Thompson went to Children's and found Hendricks holding the baby on a futon. Acosta asked Hendricks to put the baby in a car seat, while Hendricks repeatedly asked the officer to take the infant.
When Acosta told Hendricks to show his hands, he got up from the futon and ran from the room. Acosta was uncertain what happened to the baby, who ended up on the floor with a fractured skull.
During a brief but terrifying chase, Hendricks -- who had a gun -- got away from officers several times before Acosta shot him in the arm. Hendricks was ultimately arrested and charged with several felonies, which remain pending.
Thompson told internal investigators he and Acosta had shown up at the hospital without a plan for what they would do when they found Hendricks, according to the internal affairs report.
The two officers asked a hospital security guard for directions to Hendricks' son's room, but did not tell the guard what they were doing there. The guard did not ask, the summary says.
Neither Acosta nor Thompson knew Children's Hospital was located in Wauwatosa -- not Milwaukee -- and they did not know the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department had primary jurisdiction there, the summary says.
Because the initial call came in on the Police Department's non-emergency line, it was transferred to the differential response unit, which is staffed mainly by limited-duty officers who are supposed to deal with low-priority calls over the phone.
The differential response officer, Todd Rendon, upgraded the call to priority one, which should be reserved for the most serious crimes, such as shootings or armed robberies in progress, and sent it to dispatch.
Rendon told internal affairs "he did not receive any training regarding the prioritization of calls," according to the summary. Rendon also believed the hospital was located in the City of Milwaukee.
The dispatcher assumed Rendon had dealt with the call appropriately and dispatched it as priority one. Nonetheless, the officers did not arrive at the hospital until more than half an hour later.
As the incident unfolded, the missteps continued. The first backup officer who arrived could not get into the hallway where the struggle was occurring because the doors to the neonatal unit were locked. A hospital employee eventually let him in.
When Hendricks eventually dropped his gun, it "was left unattended in the hallway," the summary says.
Acosta asked a hospital security guard to get the gun, but the guard did not, so Acosta went to get the weapon himself, leaving Thompson alone with a still-struggling Hendricks, the summary says. Hendricks, who was handcuffed, got away and ran, not stopping until he encountered another officer pointing a shotgun at him.
In addition to the internal affairs investigation, the shooting was evaluated by the department's critical incident review board, which was created by Flynn after the 2011 in-custody death of Derek Williams. The board, which consists of Milwaukee police personnel, evaluates incidents in which citizens are injured or killed by police officers with the goal of improving policies, procedures and training.
The board recommended the following:
- An electronic "flag" to alert dispatchers when an address falls in a different jurisdiction.
- Training on classification and prioritization of calls for officers in the differential response unit.
- Continued training for all officers on how to respond to armed suspects
A sheriff's deputy is now stationed inside the Children's emergency department. That already was the procedure at Froedtert Hospital, which shares an emergency entrance with Children's.
During events such as the shooting last fall, authorities will set up a unified command post, which will include a Children's Hospital's incident commander. That person will direct critical care during the event.
©2014 Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
