The call seemed routine: A disabled vehicle on the side of a road and a drunken driving arrest.
But somehoweveryone who walked around, peeked inside or rifled through the minivan missed a 4-year-old girl, who apparently was out of view in the back of the van, possibly under clothes.
A city worker heard the girl crying for her mother the next morning, Nov. 13, 2018, after she had spent the night in the tow lot, where temperature dropped to 18 degrees.
Then-Police Chief Alfonso Morales suspended two officers in the incident, including one with a history of misconduct allegations who was involved in the arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown. No other city employees in any department faced discipline.
The girl's mother was convicted of several misdemeanor charges and her family filed a notice of claim against the city, the first step toward a lawsuit that was filed Tuesday.
The girl, identified only as F.K., is the plaintiff, represented by civil rights lawyers Mark Thomsen and William Sulton. Five police officers involved in the incident, plus the City of Milwaukee, are named as defendants.
The suit, filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court,includes a Fourth Amendmentclaim forunreasonable seizure,violation of due process protected by the 14th amendment, and a state law claim ofnegligence. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering.
Asked to comment about the case, Thomsen cited a line from Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem: “It’s because being American is more than the pride we inherit,it’s the past we step into, and how we repair it.”
Thomsen noted the key officer involved was" 'found guilty' by MPD leadership for his 'failure to thoroughly search a vehicle prior to a tow’ ” and left the girl.
"The city must step up and repairthis mess of its creation.And that is not accomplished by never even offering F.K. a penny to date.As a city taxpayer, I am stunned and ashamed of my city’s deliberate indifference to any justice for F.K."
The City Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for a response to the lawsuit.
To get a better understanding of what happened that night, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained and reviewed hundreds of records from the city's Fire and Police Commission, Department of Public Works and Milwaukee Police Department.
'She wasn't in plain view'
On the night of Nov. 12, 2018, Blair Springfield put her 10-month-old baby and 4-year-old daughter in a minivan belonging to her sister. Springfield's friend, Sheltrina Hall, climbed in, too. The two had been drinking vodka together that evening.
Springfield drove to pick up the father of her baby. He chastised Springfield because their child was not dressed for the cold and had no car seat.Springfield explained she had taken the car seat out of the van to clean it.
The man later told police Springfield did not appear drunk.He also said he did not see or hear the 4-year-old girl.
After dropping the man off at his job on the city's south side, Springfield headed north and stopped onWest Forest Home Avenue where she began to nod off.
Hall, who had been holding the 10-month-old, moved Springfield to the passenger seat and tried to drive, but the van had run out of gas. Hall waved down a passing county bus and she took the baby on board so the two could stay warm.
The bus driver called police and firefighters.
Fire Lt. Anthony Jacobs, heavy equipment operator Don Plant and firefighters James Nash and Darrin Jones arrived at the scene.
The woman appeared "out of it," did not want their help and never mentioned a child was still in the van, Jacobs later told Internal Affairs investigators.
Jones peeked in the van to check if there was a car seat. He did not see one andhe did not see another child.
"She wasn't in plain view, that's for sure," Jones said laterwhen he was questioned by Internal Affairs about the 4-year-old.
A baby, but no sign of 4-year-old
Officers Fabian Garcia and Anthony Dorsey, a new officer still being trained, were the first officers at the scene.
Garcia's body camera showedmembers of the Fire Department pointing to Springfield, saying"I guess it's her baby," and "There's the driver right there."
Garcia, Dorsey and another officer, James Collins, who had arrived, walked over to Hall.
"Who (sic) child is that in the back?" Garcia asked.
"That's my cousin," Hall said.
"That's your cousin's child," Garcia repeated back to her.
"In the back, where?" Hall said.
"Where is the 10-month-old child?" Garcia asked.
"Oh, she's on the bus," Hall said as she pointed toward the county bus.
Collins' body camera video showed him telling Dorsey to handcuff Springfield, who wasseated on a gurney in a private ambulance, according to reports. One of the paramedics told Collins they did not have information on Springfield.
As Collins turned to walk around the van, Sgt.David J. Paszkiewicz asked what was going on.
"A drunk driver with a baby in the car," Collins replied, pointing to Hall, and then saying: "Themother of the baby is right there and she's drunktoo."
Collins then opened the rear passenger side door and dumped out a book bag on the floor of the vehicle. He picked up a piece of paper and walked over to Springfield, asking her to confirm her name, which she did.
'Y'all just left my baby with anybody'
Garcia took the lead on getting a search warrant for a blood draw from Springfield to determine her blood-alcohol level, according to the documents. He and Dorsey arrested Springfield.
During the booking process, Dorsey's camera showed Springfield commenting: "Y'all just left my baby with anybody."
"I thought that was your cousin," another officer, Emily Markert, responded.
Paszkiewicz, the sergeant, asked Hallif there wasanyone who could give her and the baby a ride home. She gave him a handful of phone numbers butPaszkiewicz was unable to reach anyone.
He asked Markertto take Hall and the baby home. During their drive, Hall never mentionedanother child was still in the van, Markert said.
ThenPaszkiewicz and Collins debated whether to tow the minivan.Paszkiewicz did not want toinconvenience the owner, but no owner or other authorized person was there to move it. Given that it was out of gas and taken from someone who was arrested, they decided to tow it,Paszkiewicz said.
Collins said he would handle the tow. He later told investigators he searched the van a second time, but forgot to activate his body camera.
The tow truck driver did not search the van. Under the company'spolicy, drivers are not supposed to goinside a vehicle except to put it in park or straighten the steering wheel, the driver told investigators.
Plusan unnamed officer had warned him: "Don't go into the vehicle, it's nasty."
Internal affairs later asked Collins if he made such a comment. He denied it.
A child's cry: 'I want my mama'
The van was taken to the city tow lot where Department of Public Works employees processed it.
Video from the lot's garage showed an attendant looking around the van, which was brought in with another car.The van's sliding passenger door was ajar.
Eight hours later, a city worker in the Self Help lot next to the towing area heard a cry: "I want my mama."
The worker looked across the fence and saw the girl sitting in the front seat of the van. Hecontacted tow lot employees, who picked up the girl, took her to their officeand gave her a doughnut.
The tow lot employees called police and firefighters, who took her to the hospital. The girl was not injured and had no signs of exposure, despite the cold overnight temperatures.
A detective then took the girl to the Child Advocacy Center at Sojourner Family Peace Center, where an interviewer trained in working with children spoke to her.
The girl said"her mom left her in the van by herself, and it was dark." She said she was asleep and when she woke up, she saw a "garbage truck" pick her up and then she sat in the front of the van.
The girl told the interviewer she did not see any police or hear any sounds when she was in the van.
Police interviewed adults
When internal affairs interviewed Hall, she said she told an officer repeatedly that there was a child in the van. She described the officer as a younger, white male.
"They wasn't trying to hear me," she said.
She said she did not think she told the female officer who drove her home about the other child in thevan.
She "believed the officers would search the van and was not aware they would tow it," the report says.
Springfield was arrested and read her rights. In the interview that followed, Springfield said she was driving her sister's van with her cousin in the front seat and her baby in the backseat. She admitted to drinking a half-pint of vodka.
Asked about her children and where they were, Springfield said she did not want to talk any further.
She ultimately was charged in the case and pleaded guilty in 2019 totwo counts of drunken driving with a child as a passenger and two counts of child neglect. She was sentenced to 10 months in the House of Correction and three years' probation.
2 police officers suspended
At least 10 city employees were involved in the towed vehicle. None of them faced any criminal charges for wrongdoing.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office reviewed the body camera footage and focused on the actions of Milwaukee police.
Internal affairs records cited Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern as saying: "Although it was apparent that the Milwaukee Police officers involved in this investigation did not thoroughly search the vehicle involved, their actions did not rise to the level of criminal negligence."
The Department of Public Works tow lotattendant"followed protocol" by doing "a visual inspection of the vehicle’s exterior," department spokesman Brian DeNeve said in an email to the Journal Sentinel."So no employees were disciplined."
After the incident, the departmentdoubled its third shift, which runs from midnight to 8 a.m., to two staff members for six days per week, he said.
The only two disciplined were police officers, Garcia and Collins.
The police chief, Morales, suspended Garcia for 10 days after internal investigators found he violated the department's core value of competence, saying he failed to thoroughly search a vehicle prior to a tow and failed to conduct a prompt, thorough and careful investigation.
Garcia shined his flashlight into the van before it was towed and did not search the vehicle or look in the back row, according to records. He also let a suspected drunken driver— Hall, who told police she briefly took the wheel after Springfield nodded off— be taken home, the records said.
In his response to Internal Affairs, Garcia wrote he believed Hall "did not intentionally plan on operating a motor vehicle that night but had no choice in order to help Ms. Springfield.”
A father himself, Garcia said he was "devastated" when he learned a child had been left in the van overnight.
'I have been haunted by this incident'
Morales suspended Collins for 35 days forviolatingthe department's core value of competence because he failed to turn on his body camera and failed to thoroughly search a vehicle prior to a tow.
Morales also gave Collinsa last-chance agreement covering the next two years — a controversial decision that came up during Morales' reappointment process. If Collins did not follow the terms of the agreement, he faced firing. He resigned from the department last year.
Collins told internal investigators he did not intentionally leave his body camera off during the second search of the van, which he remembered being full of "dirty clothes and garbage." No one evermentioned a second child, he said.
"If we were notified of that, I would have removed every item from that vehicle until the child was located," he wrote in his response to Internal Affairs. "...I am a father myself. I wouldnever intentionally do anything to harm or jeopardize the welfare of a child. I have been haunted by this incident since it happened."
Collins wasthe same officer who stepped on NBA player Sterling Brown's ankle during his arrest stemming from a parking violation in January 2018. Brown was not charged in the incident and has a pending civil rights lawsuit against the city.
Collins, who was hired in 1996, has been reprimanded or suspended for at least seven incidents related to improper use of force, vehicle pursuits, drunken driving, failing to fully investigate an incident anddamaging a department vehicle, according to department records.
Before his discipline in thetow lot case, his earlier suspensions had been one to two days. Collins also had received a merit citation, the Chief's Superior Achievement Award, in 2004.
Morales defended his decision not to fire Collins.
"We're saying:Well this might not be a big enough offense, but you get in trouble so much that the next minor infraction is going to be enough to get you fired," Morales said in an interview last year.
Collins, Garcia, Dorsey, Markert andPaszkiewicz are named as defendants in the new lawsuit
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that body camera video had not been released to the Journal Sentinel. That video was ultimately shared by police.
