Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah is the latest proof that if a cop kills enough innocent people that he will be allowed to resign in peace and keep whatever post employment benefits (ex: pension) that any officer officer is entitled to. That is because even though he was suspended this past July after killing his third victim in the past five years, by agreeing to resign before any formal firing proceedings could be completed he is treated the same as any other officer that resigns on good terms with the department.
Alvin Cole was killed by Mensah on February 2, 2020 (https://copblaster.com/blast/28795/alvin-cole-killed-by-wauwatosa-police-department). Officer Mensah had responded to a disturbance at a shopping mall involving some teenagers. When police arrived they tried to run away, but despite them fleeing by all accounts Officer Mensah shot and killed the 17 year old boy. He allegedly had a handgun, but there is no evidence that he ever tried to use it on Mensah. That killing led to Mensah's July suspension.
Jay Anderson was killed by Mensah on June 23, 2016 (https://copblaster.com/blast/28794/jay-anderson-killed-by-wauwatosa-police-department). On that day Officer Mensah found Anderson passed out in his car in a park. Anderson had alcohol and marijuana in his system. Officer Mensah accused Anderson of lunging for a gun before he shot him. Body cam footage was "as grainy as it is graphic" according to one reporter. You can see Officer Mensah standing near the car with his gun drawn before shooting Anderson 6 times as he backed away. Anderson can be seen moving a little but nothing shows Anderson using a gun in an offensive manner. Nothing suggests that Anderson would not have died had Mensah just let him sleep.
Antonio Gonzalez was killed by Mensah on July 16, 2015 (https://www.fox6now.com/news/29-year-old-man-shot-killed-by-wauwatosa-police-after-refusing-to-drop-sword). Gonzalez was wielding a sword and refused to drop it. According to media reports there was a standoff before the shooting in which Gonzalez was standing in front of his house with the sword and repeatedly refused to drop it. Then Officer Mensah and a second officer opened fire. They never tried less lethal means to disarm Gonzalez such as a taser. A good tasing probably would have made him drop the sword. Gonzalez was never accused of attacking the officers.
The Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD) and Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office refused to charge Mensah in every case. Before his July suspension the WPD had always called the shootings justified. The DA's office maintains that they cannot prove that Mensah was not defending himself in these cases. The DA's position is further evidence of the double standard that bad cops enjoy. A civilian is typically charged based on probably cause while a police officer is only charged if they're convinced beyond any reasonable doubt in their own minds.
According to the Mapping Police Violence data set (https://copblaster.com/uploads/files/mappingpoliceviolence.pdf) Officer Mensah was involved with every killing attributed to the WPD since 2013. The WPD has 92 sworn officers (https://www.wauwatosa.net/government/departments/police) 90 of which have killed nobody since 2013. We are not statisticians but we have studied data mining at the collegiate level in the past and are confident from that to say that there appears to by a anomaly in the WPD and that anomaly is named Joseph Anthony Mensah. There was one other officer involved in the sword shooting so that may have been justified, but what are the odds that the same officer is involved in every police killing that has taken place in that city in the past seven years? Not very high. Like we said we are not statisticians and we are not going to embark upon an effort to prove statistically exactly how low the probability is that any WPD officer would be involved in three justified shooting in any seven year period. We don't feel that is necessary to show that something is wrong with Officer Mensah.
Public records contain the following information about Joseph Anthony Mensah:
Joseph Anthony Mensah
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Last Known Home Address:
9125 W SURA LN # 322
MILWAUKEE, WI 53228
We are exempting Mensah from our usual courtesy of censoring home addresses of police officers because we believe that he is a danger to the community. We believe that his neighbors need to know that they are living near someone responsible for more killings than any officer would be expected to be involved with under the circumstances. Please do not use this information to damage property or people.