Police officer in Sherman Park shooting charged with sexual assault

The Milwaukee police officer who fatally shotSylville Smith in the Sherman Park neighborhood in August sat in a bar a day later, watching coverage of the violent unrest that followed and said he did "whatever (he) wanted without repercussions," according to a criminal complaint released Thursday charging the officer with sexual assault.

Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown made those comments to a man Heaggan-Brown would sexually assault hours later after the man became heavily intoxicated, the complaint said.

Heaggan-Brown, 24, is charged with two counts of felony second-degree sexual assault, and two counts of prostitution, a misdemeanor. He also is charged with one felony count of possessing or distributing a recording of nudity without consent.

After the alleged assault on Aug. 14, Heaggan-Brown texted police Sgt. Joseph Hall, whom he considered a mentor: "Need your help big time … (expletive) up big time … but need to handle this the most secret and right way possible," according to the complaint.

Heaggan-Brown told Hall the sex was consensual, "but admitted that (alleged victim) was drunk and had 'medical issues,'" it said.

Prosecutors allege Heaggan-Brown assaulted a second man, who also was intoxicated, on July 30, and took pictures without his consent. In addition, the complaint says that Heaggan-Brown paid for sex with men on two occasions last year and this summer. The incidents all occurred at Heaggan-Brown's home, it said.

The seven-page complaint portrays the young officer as a sexual predator who assaulted men after drinking with them, paying other men for sex and boasting about special privileges he had.

The sexual assault counts are unrelated to the shooting, which remains under investigation.

"This is extraordinarily disappointing," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Thursday. "These are grave charges. These are charges that go to the heart of our code of conduct and our oath to protect and serve."

Heaggan-Brown currently is suspended with pay, per state law, and internal affairs investigators have recommended disciplinary charges against him, Flynn said. Heaggan-Brown has the opportunity to respond to those charges before Flynn determines discipline, which could include firing the officer.

"This is more than a little distressing but members of this Police Department take their oath seriously," Flynn said. "We investigated this case thoroughly, we went where the facts led us and have participated in drawing up serious criminal charges."

Flynn said Hall, the sergeant who received the text, reported information up the "chain of command" and remained on duty Thursday as an investigation is ongoing into his actions.

Heaggan-Brown made an initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, with attorney Michael Steinle, according to online court records. Court Commissioner Grace Flynn set bail at $100,000 and a preliminary hearing for Oct. 27.

According to the criminal complaint:

A man said he met Heaggan-Brown through Facebook in July because he was looking for another musician to help with his music. Heaggan-Brown is a rapper.

The two exchanged text messages, with Heaggan-Brown trying to meet him. On Aug. 14 — the day after the Smith shooting — Heaggan-Brown sent a text asking again to meet up. The man agreed, and Heaggan-Brown picked him up and took him to the Eastsider, a bar on E. North Ave., around 11 p.m.

The owner, Jason Growel, told the Journal Sentinel Thursday that Heaggan-Brown was a regular at the bar. Growel said he has cooperated with detectives looking into the alleged assaults, but when he last saw Heaggan-Brown two weeks ago they did not discuss the investigation.

According to the complaint, Heaggan-Brown talked to the bartender shortly after the two arrived on Aug. 14. Heaggan-Brown told the man that the bar did not sell Hennessy cognac, but keeps it on hand and serves it to him.

Although the man said he didn’t usually drink, the bartender served him a Long Island iced tea. The man later told police he thought he drank two Long Island iced teas, three shots of Hennessy and a "pink drink." Heaggan-Brown and the man sat at the bar and watched TV coverage of the Sherman Park unrest and protests.

The man said Heaggan-Brown “bragged about being able to do whatever (he) wanted without repercussions.”

Heaggan-Brown also said he was "the boss and there are no limitations on how (he) lives."

The man told police he had trouble recalling what happened after he left the bar with Heaggan-Brown but said he remembered waking up to Heaggan-Brown raping him. The man said he felt drugged during the assault.

Heaggan-Brown took the man to St. Joseph's Hospital about 4:20 a.m. on Aug. 15, telling hospital personnel the man had too much to drink and was “completely out, zonked out of his gourd.”

Hospital staff noted that the man cried and looked extremely traumatized as he recounted what happened. When he spotted Heaggan-Brown nearby, he became emotional and told the staff, “He raped me.”

A nurse spoke with the officer, who said he had brought the man in because he had begun to act “weird and unresponsive.” Then Heaggan-Brown left.

Hours later, Heaggan-Brown sent the text to Hall asking for his help. When the sergeant met him, Heaggan-Brown claimed the sex was consensual but also said the man was drunk.

Crime lab analysts later estimated the man would have had a blood-alcohol level between 0.19 and 0.23.

In the second assault, according to the complaint, Heaggan-Brown went to a strip club with a group on July 30. One of the men in the party became very intoxicated. He woke up the next morning at Heaggan-Brown's home in bed next to the officer, with no memory of how he got there.

The man later found photos of Heaggan-Brown having sexual contact with him while he was passed out.

During the investigation, Milwaukee police searched Heaggan-Brown’s cellphone and found text messages indicating he also was attempting to pay money in exchange for sex.

The phone also had a video of Heaggan-Brown having sex with another person who recalled to police making “a couple hundred dollars” from Heaggan-Brown in exchange for sex.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Milwaukee Sherman Park turmoil

It's notable that some of the allegations occurred at a time when the public had been told Heaggan-Brown was not in Milwaukee. Following the Sherman Park shooting, the officer faced widespread threats on social media, and at a news conference on Aug. 14, Flynn said the officer was out of town for his own safety. On Thursday, Flynn said instead that the department worked with the Milwaukee Police Association to make sure the officer "could be placed" in a home outside of his regular residence.

"We weren't guarding him," Flynn said.

Mike Crivello, president of the Milwaukee Police Association, issued a statement condemning criminal wrongdoing by anyone and saying "in any large organization there may be a time that one or a few discredit the overall; this is by no means reflective of the overwhelming majority of good officers."

Mayor Tom Barrett said he believed the police department and the district attorney's office will continue to take the "appropriate actions" and said officers "must be held to the highest standards of conduct."

Flynn said the department had not received any other sexual assault allegations against the officer prior to Aug. 15. He also said Heaggan-Brown underwent a pre-hiring investigation and screening, like all officers, and nothing came to light then. A records request for Heaggan-Brown's personnel file remains pending.

Heaggan-Brown began his career as a police aide in 2010 and became a sworn officer three years later. He was recognized by the Police Department in 2014 for helping a homeless woman. Two days before the fatal shooting on Aug. 13, a notice of claim alleging “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified force” by Heaggan-Brown and his partner, Peter R. Hauser, was filed with the city. The excessive force claim alleges that Heaggan-Brown and Hauser, both on bicycles, illegally stopped a vehicle near the Sherman Citgo, 4332 W. Capitol Drive, on April 15.

In the Aug. 13 shooting, police have said body camera footage shows Smith was armed with a handgun and turning toward the officer when he was shot. The officer's body camera footage has not been released publicly, and state Attorney General Brad Schimel has said it won't be until Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm makes a charging decision.

The state Department of Justice conducted an investigation into the shooting and gave the results to Chisholm's office, which continues to review it. Chisholm gave no timetable for when the video from Heaggan-Brown and another officer's body camera will be released.

A newly unsealed search warrant indicates police were investigating suspected drug activity when they approached the parked car Smith was driving. After the shooting, police found plastic bags containing marijuana, cocaine base and heroin, the warrant says. Police said they appeared to be for delivery, not personal use. A handgun also was located on the front passenger seat.

The fatal police shooting touched off two nights of violent unrest in the Sherman Park neighborhood, which many observers said had its roots in decades of systematic problems including segregation and poverty. During those two nights, eight businesses were torched, at least six squad cars were damaged, at least four officers were injured and two teens were wounded in separate shootings. Authorities estimated the damage at several million dollars. An investigation by federal and state law enforcement into the arsons continues.

Crowds continue to gather at the site of where Smith was shot, in the 4440 block of W. Auer Ave. City officials removed a memorial for Smith late last month after complaints from neighbors about parties, drug use and loitering near it.

Reporter Bruce Vielmetti contributed to this report.