News & Politics
A Black family whose son was killed while in Milwaukee police custody 39 years ago is taking a bigger role in the Black Lives Matter protests. The relatives of Ernest Lacy are speaking up. Ernest died in a police van in 1981, after being taking into custody for a rape that was later determined the 22 year old did not commit. At a later hearing, then-community activist Howard Fuller called for charges against the officers who had forced Ernest to the ground. "We know they had handcuffed him and that [Officer Thomas] Eliopul was no longer concerned about arresting him. He was trying to hurt him," Fuller said. Eliopul was eventually fired. Four other officers were suspended, in a legal case that took about four years. Ernest's death has been revisited in Milwaukee before, when Black men have died while in police custody. With the death in May of George Floyd while being held down by Minneapolis police, Milwaukee activists are pointing to the similarities of the Ernest Lacy case. There are