Can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Update to this previous story.
Via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Demario Pritchard sits on the other side of the Plexiglass window and grabs the red receiver. It’s his first face-to-face connection with the outside world since the Saturday in mid-August when his friend was shot dead by police.
He’s in jail in Green Bay, 116 miles away from N. 44th Street in Milwaukee where he was sitting in the car next to Sylville Smith when the police cars came screeching up.
He is the only known witness who can speak to what Smith was doing shortly before the fatal shooting that sparked several nights of riots in the Sherman Park neighborhood and ramped up long-festering racial friction across Milwaukee.
The state Justice Department has yet to release records from its investigation into the death and the public has not yet had a chance to view video footage from the body cameras worn by police. As a result, Pritchard’s account remains largely uncorroborated. Milwaukee Police and other law enforcement officials declined to comment on what happened prior to the shooting, noting the investigation has not been completed.
The way Pritchard tells it, he and Smith weren’t looking for trouble.
The two old friends had spent the afternoon together, hanging out for the first time in several years, Pritchard said. They had grown up playing basketball with each other at the Boys & Girls Club but had drifted apart when Pritchard moved to Green Bay to be close to his brother.
When they saw each other at a mutual friend’s funeral in July, they made plans to get together. So there they were, parked in front of Pritchard’s girlfriend’s parents’ house two blocks from Sherman Park. It was close to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 13. Pritchard said he was just saying goodbye and getting out of the car. He was meeting his girlfriend and they were heading to Wisconsin Dells.
They had no reason to think police were following them or looking for them, Pritchard said. They weren’t causing problems, he said. Sure, they had stopped by a friend’s house “for a little weed” but they weren’t in a stolen car, hadn’t robbed anybody, hadn’t seen anything going on around them, he said. Heck, they even had been wearing their seat belts. That’s how much they were trying to steer clear of conflict, he said.
The 23-year-old Smith had had a number of encounters with police, having been arrested nine times, but ending up being convicted of nothing but misdemeanors. Pritchard, 24, had two convictions for possessing cocaine — the second one a felony — and was on probation as a result.
Smith had a gun, Pritchard confirmed. He said that speaks to “just life in Milwaukee,” generally, more than an intent to do wrong.
“Someone can pull up on you any time,” Pritchard said.
You’ve got to be able to protect yourself, he explained.
As a felon, Pritchard is not allowed to possess a gun. As for Smith, his family maintains he had a concealed carry permit and wasn’t breaking any laws in having the weapon with him.