Special meeting of Fire and Police Commission to take up Dontre Hamilton case, body cameras

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission has scheduled a special meeting, following it's regularly scheduled Thursday evening meeting to discuss two issues: the Red Arrow Park shooting of Dontre Hamilton, and the implantation of body cameras in the Milwaukee Police Department.

The special meeting is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 18th. This meeting will take place at the Milwaukee Public Library on N. 8th Street.

The regularly scheduled Fire and Police Commission meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.

During the special meeting, members of the community will be offered the opportunity to voice their comments during a shared listening session before the Fire and Police Commission.

Thursday's special meeting comes after a Fire and Police Commission meeting two weeks ago (on September 4th) during which a group had planned to present a list of demands to the Fire and Police Commission in the Red Arrow Park shooting of 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton.

Hamilton was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer in April.

Police have said Hamilton took the officer's baton, and a struggle ensued.

Hamilton's family members are awaiting a charging decision by the District Attorney's Office. They and others have called for the officer's name to be made public, and for details on the injuries the officer is said to have suffered prior to the shooting.

The group didn't have the opportunity to present that list of demands to the Fire and Police Commission -- because they weren't allowed in the meeting.

The group filed into City Hall about 45 minutes after the meeting had begun, and as the meeting continued, police officers blocked doors -- denying the group's entry into the meeting.

That led demonstrators to pound on the walls -- their chants for justice growing louder.

Demonstrators remained inside City Hall until late Thursday.

The group says when Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn left the meeting -- a comment was made regarding one of the demonstrators -- labeling him as an opportunist.

That comment prompted the group to host a press conference last week at City Hall -- during which they stood in solidarity with demonstrator Khalil Coleman, and announced that they "vehemently disagree" with Chief Flynn's assessment of Coleman's character.

The "body cameras" issue was set to be presented to the Fire and Police Commission by community activist Tracey Dent on September 4th -- the same evening the group had planned to submit its list of demands in the Hamilton case.

Due to the chaos inside City Hall that night as demonstrators filled the building, a petition with more than 2,300 signatures was never delivered to the Fire and Police Commission.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this story.

Related stories:

CLICK HERE for complete coverage on the Dontre Hamilton case via FOX6Now.com.