Totally Innocent Man Is Mistaken To Be Someone Else By Cops, Tase And Arrest Him Even Once They Know They Have The Wrong Guy

A Brookfield resident who was mistaken by police as a suspect, tased and arrested on his street in November is facing a criminal charge for obstructing or resisting arrest.

Sean Star, 33, could face up to $10,000 in fines and nine months in prison if convicted of the charge, according to a criminal complaint filed Dec. 11 in Waukesha County Circuit Court. The Journal Sentinel published a story on his arrest three days prior to his charge.

Star is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Waukesha County Court on the morning of Dec. 28.

Star's partner Carla Jones set up a GoFundMe fundraiser "out of desperation" to cover anticipated legal fees for a criminal defense lawyer, medical fees from Star's emergency room visit and support to relocate their family of five.

"We are very lucky (and) grateful to have such a supportive family and community, but we are not financially prepared for this whatsoever," Jones wrote in the GoFundMe description.

The couple is talking with multiple lawyers to see what their best approach would be moving forward, Jones said in the GoFundMe.

On the night of Nov. 3, Star and Jones had just unloaded couches into their new Brookfield townhouse north of Greenfield Avenue when they got into their truck to leave their street, they told the Journal Sentinel.

Around the same time, officers with the Brookfield Police Department arrived at the same street in search of Christopher Braatz, a suspect in a report of physical abuse of a child, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers believed Braatz to be armed with a knife, Brookfield Assistant Police Chief Chris Garcia said. Officers saw a Chevy Silverado pulling away near Braatz's residence, the complaint states. When the officer shined his flashlight on the driver, he observed a white man with a beard and bald head looking at him, the complaint says.

In about a minute and a half, Star went from being in his vehicle talking to officers to being taken to the ground by three officers, tased and handcuffed, a video taken by Jones and body camera footage reviewed by the Journal Sentinel at the Brookfield Police Department shows.

But Star wasn't the guy police were looking for.

About 15 to 20 minutes passed before a lieutenant confirmed to Jones that Star resembled the man they were looking for, but was not the correct person.

"He looks exactly like the gentleman that we're looking for," Lieutenant Karl Turek told Jones in the police body camera video.

“If he simply would have gotten out and cooperated with us, he wouldn't be in this situation,” Turek said.

Star told the Journal Sentinel he feels traumatized from the situation.

“All I did was show up to a crappy place at a crappy time,” Star said. “And that's what the officers want to chalk it up to, but then stand behind their actions. That to me is powerless and a shameful way to operate in the color of law."William F. Sulton, an attorney with the Sulton Law Firm and the president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Board of Directors, thinks the video captured by Jones' cellphone shows Star being the opposite of resistant, calling the footage "disturbing and illegal behavior by the police."

"I have no idea why there's no apology to this man," Sulton said.

The bogus charges were later dismissed by a court.