Milwaukee's Common Council will vote on Tuesday, November 4, on whether the city should pay $225,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that two Milwaukee police officers used excessive force on a Racine man during a December 2023 encounter inside a Target store, the Wisconsin Law Journal reported. The council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee unanimously recommended the settlement on October 26.
Source: Wisconsin Law Journal
The plaintiff, Jacob Enriquez of Racine, sued the City of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Police Department and officers Bradley Johnson and Thomas Kresa in August 2025. The lawsuit alleges — as allegations that have not been decided by a jury — that the officers repeatedly punched him and used a Taser on him, causing a head injury that required three staples to close.
What the complaint says happened at the Target store
The encounter happened on December 22, 2023, at the Target store at 2950 S. Chase Avenue in Milwaukee, according to the federal complaint in the case, Case No. 25-cv-1285 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Johnson and Kresa were on duty at the store on a special holiday-presence assignment when a loss-prevention employee notified them of a suspected shoplifting attempt by a man the store described as a known shoplifter, the complaint states.
The complaint alleges that during the encounter Kresa struck Enriquez on the head with his fist more than once, that Johnson used a Taser on him, and that Johnson failed to intervene to stop the alleged force. Enriquez was taken to hospital, where he received three staples to close a 3-centimetre laceration on his head, according to the complaint and the Law Journal's reporting. The officers and the city have not admitted the allegations, and the case remains active litigation.
The legal case behind the payment
Enriquez's suit, filed on August 26, 2025, claims the officers violated his constitutional rights and also brings a claim against the city itself — known in federal civil-rights law as a Monell claim — alleging failures in training, discipline and supervision. Those are the plaintiff's claims, set out in his complaint; a settlement, if the council approves it, would resolve the case without a jury deciding any of them.
Neither side is commenting while the vote is pending. Milwaukee police declined to comment and directed questions to the City Attorney's Office, and City Attorney Evan Goyke declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation, the Law Journal reported.
The October 26 committee recommendation is not the final word. The full Common Council votes on November 4; if it approves the $225,000 settlement, the measure then goes to Mayor Cavalier Johnson. If the council rejects it, the federal lawsuit continues toward trial.
Why this payment matters in Milwaukee
Police settlements are a recurring and closely watched cost for Milwaukee taxpayers, because the money comes from the city, not from the individual officers. The city has resolved major police cases with large payments before — in 2018 the Common Council approved a $3.4 million settlement of the lawsuit over the police department's stop-and-frisk practices, which also required the department to document stops and accept outside monitoring. Against that history, aldermen weigh each new recommendation against the cost and risk of fighting the case in federal court.
What happens next
The Common Council takes up the recommendation on November 4. Approval would send the settlement to Mayor Cavalier Johnson and, once signed and paid, would close Enriquez's case without any court ruling on whether the officers' actions in the Target store were lawful. Rejection would return the case to the federal court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where the allegations would be tested through evidence, motions and potentially a jury trial — a longer and more expensive path for both the city and for Enriquez.
For Milwaukee residents, the vote is also a small window into how the city handles force complaints after the fact: not through a public trial, in most settled cases, but through a committee room, a dollar figure and a council vote that taxpayers can watch.