Kenosha Applebee's incident, family's attorney speaks, pushes for change
KENOSHA, Wis. - A family is pushing for change at the Kenosha Police Department after chaos at an Applebee's restaurant in July.
Police came into the restaurant looking for suspects in a nearby hit-and-run crash. Someone pointed the family out as being "suspicious. The actual suspects were later found in the restaurant bathroom.
Cellphone video shows police officers trying to arrest 24-year-old Jermelle English as he was holding a 1-year-old baby. Police say English tried to leave against officers' orders and resisted when they were restraining him. The family's attorney said an officer used pepper spray, sending the baby boy to the hospital.
"I don’t wish this on no one," said Tekesisha Boyd, grandmother of the baby. "It’s not right what happened to them."
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"It’s bad enough when a baby ends up in the hospital, in this situation, when nothing like this needed to occur," said Kevin O'Connor, the family's attorney.
O'Connor and the family held a news conference at the Applebee's restaurant Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 23.
"We will not stop. We will not rest until we get justice for this family," said Tavis Grant, Rainbow PUSH.
"We are demanding transparency from the Kenosha Police Department. Demanding that body cam footage is released immediately. We want full transparency," said Tanya Mclean, leaders of Kenosha executive director.
Applebee's Kenosha
"Simply being Black and going to dinner is not a crime. And on top of it, to throw salt in the wounds, they start charging these parents with resisting arrest and obstruction of police officers when the actual people were hiding in the bathroom," O'Connor said.
The Kenosha Police Department is doing an internal review of the incident.
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The family's attorney stopped short of saying he would file a lawsuit against the city and police department, but demanded the misdemeanor charges against English and the boy's mother to be dropped.