Video of a man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin holding a young Black man by the throat to detain him for a “citizen’s arrest” has gone viral and sparked a local protest.
Local law enforcement are now investigating.
The 62-year-old White man—who has since been identified by police—was filmed holding the 24-year-old Black man by the throat while he spoke on the phone presumably to 911.
Video showed the younger man is about a foot shorter than the man clasping his throat and identified him as disabled.
\u201cLocal racist vigilante man of Milwaukee, WI grabbed a special needs boy by the neck & called the police over a bike stolen 2 days earlier from his neighbor that he admits he doesn't know what the bike actually looks like, & the person he's holding didn't steal it.\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
Deangelo Wright was driving through the neighborhood, stopped and began recording as he tried to intervene.
Wright told WISN 12 News:
"He had one of the younger boys by the neck, like kind of strangling him, so I got out of the truck, and I approached him, and that's when I started recording him."
"Just looking at it, it just looked like he was choking a kid. It was sad and very upsetting."
"[The young man] was shaking. He didn't really know what was going on, like he was confused."
"I was telling everyone, God puts you in the situation for a reason, and I think that was for that young man's sake."
The White man first claimed the young man was responsible for stealing a bicycle from his neighbor 2 days prior, despite having no proof. He later said it was the young man's friend who stole a green bike.
He said:
"This kid over here, one of his friends stole a bike right out of a friend of mine's yard."
Neither the young man nor the two children he was riding through the neighborhood with were on green bikes.
The identities of both men are being withheld while the incident is being investigated.
You can view local news coverage of the incident below:
police investigating video of man grabbing another man by throatyoutu.be
Community activist Vaun Mayes organized a protest in response to the incident.
Mayes told WISN 12 News:
"I mean, we still have a race and segregation problem here. To grab someone by their throat, who he didn't even know if that kid was the kid that stole the bike allegedly or what was going on, but you immediately went to that level of violence."
"That has a racial component."
He added:
"That is a dangerous person."
"Stuff like that is happening all over the country; people playing vigilante."
"We saw what happened with Ahmaud Aubrey and all these different cases and we definitely don't want that type of stuff happening here in Milwaukee."
Others agreed the incident raised questions and concerns:
\u201cMan restrains a young man with special needs by the throat for basically being a black man on a bicycle. The Milwaukee a county DA need to prosecute Robert Allen Walczykowski Sr,\u201d— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) 1665858149
\u201cAlot of people have asked for updates on this story, a WI ABC news affiliate reached out & has been sent all the appropriate info on Robert & the video's owner.\nExpect coverage later.\nAlso some large TikTok accounts have covered the video too including @TizzyEnt & @hausofpettymnn\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@Clothoper @themunnyshot @ChudsOfTikTok @antifaoperative I'm js if something happened to that white man, MPD would open a CSI to solve the crime. When its a person of color its all crickets. We saw it with a missing white girl its in the news and searches native women go missing daily in a single state. Wheres the federal investigators\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@Clothoper @MarkOfCaine @themunnyshot @ChudsOfTikTok @antifaoperative Far too long\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@askdrwebster @TizzyEnt He's not too old for prosecution.\u201d— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) 1665858149
\u201c@greenamerican82 @ChudsOfTikTok That\u2019s the part that made me cry .. bc he made him feel like he did something wrong and he\u2019s obviously panicking trying to explain his self\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@enchantedkam @ChudsOfTikTok I hope Grandpa Deliverance owns a house nearby and that child's parents sue him for at least $10 million damages. Insurance companies should "know their insured" same as fiduciary entities.\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@deidrelshaw @ChudsOfTikTok Me too.. his hands are trembling. Awful.. just awful.\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@sassyAKA04 @ChudsOfTikTok All the dang time.\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@CantStopPoppin @ChudsOfTikTok What about enhanced sentencing for it being racially motivated?\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@brenda_V71 @TizzyEnt \ud83d\udc46\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udc46\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udc46\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udc46\ud83c\udffd\u201d— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) 1665858149
\u201c@iamaverina @ChudsOfTikTok It\u2019s simple, there\u2019s no consequences.\u201d— ChudsOfTikTok (@ChudsOfTikTok) 1665808499
\u201c@BlaqueOne1 @TizzyEnt @MilwaukeePolice It\u2019s assault, though?\u201d— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) 1665858149
An initial statement by the Milwaukee Police Department said they were "aware of a video that has been circulating on social media sites. The individuals involved in the video have been identified."
In their original media statement police concluded:
"A 62-year-old Milwaukee man detained a 24-year-old Milwaukee man that was allegedly stealing a bicycle."
However the video contradicts the police account of what happened based on the older man's own words.
After public pressure police revised their assessment and decided to investigate further.
WISN 12 News consulted legal analyst and defense attorney Dan Adams, who said:
"Under Wisconsin law, there's something called false imprisonment, where if you confine or restrain another person without their consent, and without lawful authority, that's a felony behavior."
"Add to that also battery and disorderly conduct, and this individual has some issues."
Adams added if the older man tried to argue he was making a citizen's arrest, in his legal opinion, alleged neighbor's bike theft by a friend may not meet the threshold for that defense.
