Milwaukee Common Council meets with medical examiner on Williams homicide

MILWAUKEE -- The Medical Examiner goes before the Milwaukee Common Council to talk about Derek Williams, a young man who died in police custody. The aldermen want changed in how these incidents are investigated, and they're not the only ones. Members of Occupy Milwaukee are protesting the way the death of Derek Williams was handled by police.

Derek Williams died in the back of a Milwaukee police squad car after leading police on a chase. At first, the Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death natural saying it was tied with his sickle cell trait. Recently the ruling changed to homicide despite Williams' sickle cell trait.

Milwaukee Alderwoman Milele Coggs says, "In the death of case there has to be a better record kept of all these communications. So much of what medical examiners do is verbal between departments. We recommend that forms be created."

The council members say they will draft a letter to the county executive and county board asking for legislation mandating more record keeping for death investigations.

Milwaukee Aldermen say as policy makers they will now do what they can to try to prevent such serious mistakes from happening again. Alderman Hines says, "Despite the meetings we had we are still disgusted. We are still angry. We are still troubled by what we saw."