Brookfield police arrested a 41-year-old Brookfield man and his son on Jan. 22 when the situation escalated after the child was caught driving without a license.
Around 2:35 p.m., two officers were conducting patrol in an unmarked car at the 9500 block of Garfield Avenue due to an anonymous complaint of drug-dealing activity performed by a minor without a driver’s license who may have been driving a family member’s vehicle. The officers witnessed the minor and an unknown female subject enter the car, which proceeded east past the officers before they lost sight of it.
About 15 minutes later, the same car passed the officers heading west on Garfield, and they observed the juvenile driving. As the car approached Kemman Avenue, it rolled through a stop sign, police said. Police activated their squad car’s emergency lights and observed the juvenile and the unknown female subject climbing into the backseat of the car.
One officer removed the minor from the car and placed him into hand restraints due to his “furtive and suspicious movements” and took him into custody for operating a vehicle without a license, which police had previously confirmed. Due to the cold temperature, police placed the minor into the back of their unmarked car to keep him warm.
Police attempted to speak with the female, who said she was 18 but failed to produce a driver’s license before being sent on her way with another minor who had been in the backseat. One of the officers saw the juvenile inside the unmarked car manipulate the handcuffs around his legs to be in front of his body and advised him against “doing anything illegal.”
Shortly afterward, the minor’s parents came outside and pled with police not to arrest their son or tow their vehicle. The officers told them both to step away from the unmarked vehicle, as they were attempting to speak with their son, to which neither complied. As police continued to tell the parents to step away, the father “grew more upset” and called one of the officers pejoratives before placing a finger “within an inch” from their face.
According to police, the officer feared battery from the man and ordered him to place his hands behind his back and submit to arrest after escorting him away from the car. Police said the man “continuously tensed his arms to defeat the arrest,” so the officer swept his legs out and, with the man’s stomach to the ground, leaned their chest on his back to keep him grounded.
During this time, the minor, who had again manipulated the handcuffs to be in front of his body, exited the unmarked squad car and ran at the officer; the other officer intercepted him and pushed him to the ground. The officer returned the minor to the car and told him he was under arrest.
Police placed the juvenile’s father into custody and transported both of them to the Brookfield Police Department, where they were read their Miranda warnings. The minor’s father continued to berate the officer and threatened to sue them.
Police charged the man with one count of assault and one count of resisting and obstructing arrest. He was released with a Feb. 27 court date.
Police also charged the man’s son for obstructing arrest, driving without being issued a license, driving without insurance and disregarding a stop sign. He was released to his mother with a Feb. 10 court date.
These items were obtained from the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Jan. 19-26; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
