Doug Schneider

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Police Chief Tom Molitor said the use of force by Officer Derek Wicklund was justifiable

Department had been investigating Wicklund%27s arrest of Joshua Wenzel outside Stir-Ups Parlor %26 Saloon

The department reviewed three videos in addition to one posted on YouTube of the incident

Wicklund will return to road-patrol duties soon

A Green Bay police investigation of an aggressive arrest in April has cleared the involved officer of using excessive force, but raises questions of whether police could have better handled the incident.

The department's 80-page report uses witness statements and review of video from four sources to conclude that Officer Derrick Wicklund's use of force was "justifiable and objectively reasonable" when the officer knocked a Caledonia man to the ground and struck him twice while arresting him for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

A video of the arrest, made April 19 outside Stir-Ups Parlor & Saloon, got more than 120,000 views on YouTube.

While exonerating Wicklund, 37, the four officers who investigated the incident recommend additional training in "professional communication" for Wicklund and another officer, Tom Conley. The investigation also said the lieutenant at the scene, Steve Mahoney, did not effectively control the crowd during the incident.

"Officer Wicklund ... most likely could have projected himself in a more favorable light considering his physical mannerisms and language skills," the report said.

An additional review of the incident, by the state Department of Justice, found that Wicklund had used acceptable tactics during the arrest. Conley and Mahoney were not accused of any wrongdoing.

The man arrested, Joshua Wenzel, then 29, was ticketed on municipal charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The charges are pending.

"The key issue is that (Wenzel) was violent, he was aggressive and he did everything wrong," Lt. Chad Ramos said Tuesday after a press conference when officers talked about the investigation.

Wicklund will return to road-patrol duties soon, police officials said. He has remained on active duty, working from the department's offices. Police officials said that was because a number of threats had been made against him in the wake of the incident.

"We took him out of the spotlight (but) he was doing important police work," Capt. Jim Runge said. Officials said Wicklund has been "working on investigations," including one that could yield multiple arrests this week.

Police launched an investigation days after the arrest and then asked the state Department of Justice to review the incident. In the days that followed, small demonstrations were held downtown, with one group calling for Wicklund to be fired and another rallying in support of the officer.

On Tuesday, the department drew further criticism when it posted the investigation results on its Facebook page. A number of people said they couldn't take the results seriously because the department had investigated one of its own.

Runge, who was part of the team that investigated the arrest, said most people would likely be satisfied with the outcome "if they have the opportunity to review the same (evidence) we did."

But there is a portion of society that won't be satisfied," he said, "no matter what."

Ramos said the department reviewed three videos in addition to one posted on YouTube. One video was from a squad car; another was an overhead view from a camera outside a nearby bar. They show Wenzel initiating the conflict, repeatedly using obscenities and resisting arrest, even while on the ground, Ramos said.

Internal Affairs officers, two of whom also serve as departmental spokesmen, also conducted dozens of interviews during the investigation. They said they briefly interviewed Wenzel by telephone, but "he didn't want to cooperate" afterward.

Press-Gazette Media could not reach Wenzel on Tuesday. In April, he said he and other people had been drinking at Stir-Ups, and were outside the bar shortly after it closed.

"I'm standing in front of this other kid, who is saying things, and he is walking toward a cop," Wenzel said then. "I don't know the kid. I say, 'you don't want to go after a cop.' Then the cop starts arresting him, and I say 'what are you arresting him for?'"

Police acknowledged Tuesday that Wicklund struck Wenzel twice while on top of him on the pavement, but said they were open-handed strikes necessary to get Wenzel to comply. One of the videos shows Wenzel extending his hands toward Wicklund after being taken to the ground; the department said that was evidence of resisting.

The police department completed its investigation more than six weeks ago, but would not announce its findings until it received the DOJ review and Wicklund had 12 days to decide if he would contest its release.

Since joining the police department in 2002, Wicklund has generated 14 complaints while earning 22 commendations, according to documents compiled by Press-Gazette Media. Most complaints were from people who felt he was unfair, overly aggressive or unnecessarily rough. The department found no cause to discipline Wicklund in any of those incidents.

He also was the subject of two claims of policy violations — one because marijuana that another officer had checked out of the evidence room was found in his locker, and one after he broke into a locked evidence room to recover a work item. He was not disciplined in either incident.

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider