The family of 17-year-old Alvin Cole and lawyers for former Wauwatosa officer Joseph Mensah are closing in on a confidential settlement that could finally end the long running federal civil lawsuit over Cole’s 2020 death. The possible deal lands just days before a third federal jury trial that had been lined up for early May.
Attorneys on both sides confirmed they were nearing an agreement and said the amount and other terms would stay under wraps, according to reporting by Urban Milwaukee. The same reporting noted that a Wisconsin Examiner piece on the case had been republished there as the new trial date drew near. Lawyers indicated they would keep specifics private while they work to finalize the deal.
Two trials, two deadlocks
Two federal juries in 2025 could not reach verdicts, leaving the civil case in limbo and forcing the court to put yet another trial on the calendar. Local reporting shows jurors deadlocked in March and again in September, and that the Cole family sought $9 million in the retrial after asking for $22 million in the earlier trial, according to WISN. The third trial had been scheduled to start in early May, as noted in coverage of the second deadlock and new trial date.
How the shooting unfolded
On Feb. 2, 2020, officers responded to a disturbance at Mayfair Mall; testimony and investigators' reports say one teen produced a handgun, Cole accidentally shot himself in the arm while running, and then fell to the ground, according to Wisconsin Examiner. Mensah fired five times and later testified he believed Cole was raising or pointing the weapon at him, while other officers' accounts differed about whether the gun moved after Cole was on the ground, as reported by local court coverage at TMJ4. Those conflicting versions and limited squad car video sat at the heart of each trial.
Legal implications of a confidential deal
Lawyers for both sides said the settlement's terms would be confidential, but when a public entity like the city of Wauwatosa is involved, secrecy can run into limits set by public records law and court oversight, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and Wisconsin statutes on record access. Courts have at times required filings or refused to allow government settlements to be fully secret, and those legal limits could decide whether the agreement stays private or ends up on the public docket. That legal backdrop will shape how the deal, if completed, is recorded and disclosed.
What to watch next
If the parties sign a deal, they would typically file a dismissal or stipulation with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin that would remove the case from the active docket and likely vacate the May trial. If no deal materializes the case was set to proceed before U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, whose court handles filings in the Milwaukee division. Court filings and local reporting will provide the first official word on whether the settlement is final or the case is still headed back to a jury.
