Brown Deer officer takes the stand, says unruly bus passenger she shot was resisting
A Brown Deer police officer accused of unlawfully shooting an unarmed man in the back testified Thursday that she perceived him as resisting throughout their entire encounter.
Devon Kraemer, 28, is charged with aggravated battery with intent to cause great bodily harm over the March 14, 2016, encounter with Manuel Burnley Jr. She and another officer were trying to handcuff the 370-pound Burnley when she fired a single shot between his shoulder blades.
She and officer Michael Leeman had escorted Burnley, now 28, off a Milwaukee County bus after the driver had stopped, waved them over and complained that Burnley had been loud, profane and upsetting to her during a dispute about his fare.
"He was very wound up," Kraemer said Thursday, describing her first impression of Burnley.
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She repeatedly referred to his size, noting Burnley was more than twice her size. When she and Leeman got him off the bus, Burnley continued to struggle until all three ended up on the ground, she said.
Kraemer said she landed hard on her knees.
Burnley continued to resist, at one point screaming: "Don't Trayvon me," referring to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, she said.
"I had no feeling we were in control," she said.
She said she gave Burnley three or four "knee strikes" to his exposed belly — his shirt had rolled up in the confrontation — but that it seemed to make him more "irate."
When all three were on the ground, Kraemer said she did not know where Leeman was and felt whatever actions her fellow officer was trying to take were not working.
"I felt all alone in this fight," she said, later adding of Leeman: "He wasn't helping me."
She said she saw Burnley's left hand heading toward his waistband and Burnley beginning to move, or roll upward, and that's when she fired one shot.
During cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney James Griffin asked her if she saw a gun in Burnley's waistband when delivering the knee strikes since his belly was exposed. She said she did not see a gun because she was "hyperfocused" on his belly button, where she kneed him.
Kraemer later said his stomach was so large that it folded over his waistband, so she would not have seen a gun.
Griffin also pressed her on her description of Burnley "flailing" when she called him to the front of the bus at the beginning of their encounter. He played the bus video, pointing out how Burnley only jerked his right arm when putting his cell phone in his pocket.
"It never happened," Griffin said of the flailing.
Because of the shooting, Burnley was hospitalized for 12 days and lost part of a lung. The bullet remains in his body. Earlier in the trial, he testified he was not resisting but expected to be Tased after the officers took him down and couldn't get him cuffed because of his size.
Leeman, 33, testified last week as a prosecution witness. He admitted he had not seen a gun on Burnley or heard him or anyone on the bus say he had one. Nor had Leeman heard any threats from Burnley or seen him attack the two officers.
The trial also has featured dueling expert opinions. If convicted, Kraemer could face up to 10 years in prison, though she would likely face a far lesser sentence.