A Brown Deer (WI) police officer who shot an unarmed man after removing him from a county bus in March has been charged with aggravated battery with use of a dangerous weapon, a felony, according to a criminal complaint.
The man, Manuel L. Burnley Jr., 26, was face down on the ground when Officer Devon Kraemer shot him in the back, according to the complaint issued Friday.
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Kraemer, 27, told authorities she shot Burnley “because she feared for her safety and that of her partner,” the complaint says.
But an expert retained by the prosecutor’s office, Emanuel Kapelsohn, concluded that while Kraemer may have been afraid, that fear was not objectively reasonable.
According to the complaint:
The incident began when the bus driver flagged down the officers in the 8600 block of N. 60th St. because Burnley was arguing with her. Kraemer boarded the bus and told Burnley to get off, but he refused, using vulgar language and displaying a belligerent attitude. He did not threaten anyone on the bus or suggest he had a weapon.
Kraemer and her partner, Michael Leeman, removed Burnley from the bus. As they took him to the ground, they also fell. The two officers rolled Burnley onto his stomach; he struggled as they tried to handcuff him.
“Kraemer stated that she was unable to gain control of Burnley’s left arm, and she drew her firearm, and pressed it against Burnley’s back,” the complaint says. “She then drew it back a short distance, to avoid a malfunction, and fired once, striking Burnley in the back, then immediately re-holstered her firearm.”
