A Milwaukee traffic stop over a missing front license plate landed 24-year-old Nicholas Beamon in the emergency room twice after an officer struck him repeatedly in the head while he was on the ground, according to his civil rights attorney. The stop happened just before 6:30 p.m. on October 8 near Palmer Street and Keefe Avenue, and it ended with no criminal charges against anyone in the car.
Attorney B'Ivory LaMarr says Beamon, who was riding in the back seat alongside two women and a 1-year-old child, legally owned a firearm found in his sweatshirt and voluntarily told officers it was there. Milwaukee police tell a different story: in an email statement reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the department said Beamon was uncooperative, combative, and repeatedly reached for the weapon during the encounter. Video reportedly shows officers searching the sweatshirt pocket before the struggle on the ground.
Neither Beamon nor the 20-year-old female passenger in the vehicle was charged following the stop, and the same report notes that none of the adult occupants had a prior criminal history. The missing front plate prompted the traffic stop.
A Firearm Was Found During the Stop
A firearm was found in Beamon’s sweatshirt during the encounter.
Milwaukee Police Department Standard Operating Procedure 460 says force must be necessary and objectively reasonable and comply with the DAAT model, per the Milwaukee Police Department. It also says force must be reported to a supervisor.
A Department Under Pressure to Tighten Force Rules
This case lands amid a broader local push to rein in how Milwaukee officers use force. In June, the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously passed legislation amending SOP 460 to require officers to actively intervene and report whenever they witness a colleague using unreasonable or noncompliant force, according to Urban Milwaukee, with the measure authored by Alderman Alex Brower.
Oversight Path Remains Unclear
Citizen complaints of police misconduct in Milwaukee are investigated by MPD Internal Affairs and reviewed by the civilian Fire and Police Commission, according to the Wisconsin Justice Initiative. Whether Internal Affairs or the commission will formally review the strikes against Beamon has not been addressed in the available accounts, and it remains unclear from those accounts whether body camera footage confirms either side's version of what happened in the moments before he was taken to the ground.
