Photo Credit: Quinn Clark
Joel Acevedo’s parents, José and Maribel Acevedo, address the group of protesters outside of the Milwaukee County Safety Building.
Jose Acevedo, father of Joel Acevedo, recalled his son’s pleas to go home the night he was choked for 11 minutes by an off-duty officer. “I know my son was not being belligerent. He was not cursing at them. If anything, he was begging to go home,” Acevedo said. “‘Let me go. Let me go home. I promise you, I will go straight home.’”
Joel Acevedo died at the hospital six days later from the injuries he received that night in April.
Protesters gathered outside of the Milwaukee County Safety Building on Monday as former Milwaukee Police Officer Michael Mattioli, charged for the death of 25-year-old Joel Acevedo, appeared in court. The same day, Derek Chauvin was scheduled to appear in court for George Floyd’s murder. The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and The People’s Revolution were among the group.
Mattioli has requested to move the trial out of Milwaukee before the trial begins due to concerns of an unfair trial. However, activists have pointed out that Acevedo’s case is actually lesser known than most.
“That just shows how disconnected they are from the actual community,” said Omar Flores, co-founder of The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Flores recalled when activists went door-to-door handing out flyers spreading awareness for Acevedo’s story. “Just on Saturday, I was going door-to-door in Silver City. Almost nobody knew who he (Acevedo) was,” he said.
Raise Awareness
Photo Credit: Quinn Clark
A protester listens as speakers demand justice for Joel Acevedo.
While Acevedo’s case is lesser known than others, activists hope to continue to raise awareness. “I wish people would know just how black and white this is,” Flores said. “I mean, it is very clearly something evil that happened to Joel Acevedo. Something that was terrible, that just cannot be defended. Two people who held him down while an officer strangled him while he begged to go home for 11 minutes. I mean, there's no way around it.”
Elizabeth Brown, an advocate with Justice Wisconsin, pointed out the privilege that police officers have within the justice system. She also asked demonstrators to remember the severity of the case. “11 minutes and 22 seconds of an individual holding him in a real neck, a rear naked chokehold which we understand a rear naked chokehold being applied for two seconds is too long,” Brown said. “They held him for eleven minutes and twenty two seconds. Let that sink in. Let that sizzle in your spirit.”
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In addition to asking to relocate the trial outside of Milwaukee, Mattioli also asked for Acevedo’s medical records, and for 40 minutes of his statements to be suppressed in court.
The Acevedo family is asking for the body-cam footage from the night Joel was choked to be released. “I saw that body cam, and, in the name of Jesus, that body cam is going to come out,” Jose Acevedo said.
Protesters walked from the Milwaukee County Safety Building to the mural of Joel on the South Side. Activist groups are asking for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), rather than the Fire and Police Commission, asking that community members have the power to hold police accountable.
