City Council members fight over questioning chief on alleged police brutality

Alderman Q.A. Shakoor II is fighting to make more information public about the Jan. 21 arrest where police injured a Racine man.

On Jan. 24, Shakoor requested that Racine Police Chief Kurt Wahlen appeared before the city's Public License and Welfare Committee in a "timely manner" to discuss the arrest.

The Racine Police Department is investigating the arrest of Bilal Gilleylen, who received 12 stitches around his right eye while being arrested in the 1200 block of Summit Street.

The 30-year-old Gilleylen was pulled over because his car was missing its front license plate. The stop escalated after police allegedly found plastic bags on Gilleylen that are commonly used to package drugs. Gilleylen then allegedly resisted arrest and officers pulled him from the car, slammed him to the ground, shot him with a Taser and arrested him.

The officers found crack in his car, but no dangerous weapons. Gilleylen is being held in the Racine County Jail on drug charges, as well as resisting arrest.

The NAACP and other community leaders demanded an investigation of the incident, and Gilleylen has hired an attorney to consider suing the city. Since the arrest, the police department has said little about the incident. Investigators allegedly reviewed videos from the squad cars at the scene to determine what happened. The contents of the videos have not been released.

It's not clear when the information will be released. Shakoor touched a nerve with city leaders when he made the request for Wahlen to appear before his committee.

City Council President Tom Friedel asked Shakoor to reconsider the request in an e-mail to Shakoor, Wahlen, Mayor Gary Becker and other city officials.

Citing a ruling from City Attorney Rob Weber, Shakoor responded in an e-mail on Feb. 10 that it was within his committee's right to order Wahlen to appear.

"The Public Safety & Licensing Committee has a practice to wait until all investigations, facts, are completed before proceeding with issues accordingly," he wrote. "This is no different in our consistent practice."

Friedel responded to Shakoor on Feb. 11 with a terse e-mail against asking him not to bring Wahlen before the committee.

"It was never a question of the committee's ability to request the chief to appear," Friedel wrote. "It is the inability of the chief to comment in depth on an ongoing investigation, AND the inability of the committee to have any jurisdiction in the matter. You can make him appear but he is very limited in what he can and should say until an investigation is completed. That may make it look like he has something to hide when that is not true.

"Furthermore, the committee has no right to act on anything directly related to the incident. Because all of the facts of the situation may not be revealed, you could end up with the appearance of indifference by the committee on the issue. That also may not be well received by the community. You are putting the committee and the council in a lose - lose situation. There is little opportunity for the committee or the council to help in this situation at this time."

For the time being, it appears Shakoor is holding off on the request. It does not appear on the agendas for the Public Safety and Licensing Committee or the City Council in February.

The Racine Police Department had no update on the internal investigation into Gilleylen’s arrest.