Letter on Behalf of Paulie Heenan's Family

US Attorney John W. Vaudreuil United States Attorney's Office

Western District of Wisconsin

660 West Washington Avenue, Suite 303

Madison, WI 53703

(608) 264-5158

FBI Special Agent Teresa Carlson

330 E. Kilbourn Avenue

Suite 600

Milwaukee, WI 53202

Office(414) 276-4684

Fax (414) 291-2400

January 23, 2013

Dear US Attorney Vaudreuil and Special Agent Carlson,

No doubt you have received many letters calling for an impartial and independent investigation on the death of Paulie Heenan in the hands of Madison’s law enforcement officer Stephen Heimsness. Unfortunately, Paulie’s death is a case of history repeating itself – both with Officer Heimsness brutally abusing his power, and law enforcement exonerating this violent behavior. You have probably heard much about the Michael Bell shooting 8 years ago, also, considering the incidents were eerily identical. Two young, unarmed men lost their ​​lives at the gun-toting hands of police officers, and the “Home Rule” law in Wisconsin has deemed this not only pardonable, ​​but appropriate and without any need for accountability to the public. People are imploring that you take this seriously because the implications for the future safety of Wisconsin citizens is at stake – and the stakes have proven to be life and death more than once.

The near east side of Madison, where I live and Paulie died, is well known for being a vibrantly artistic, peace-loving, anti-violence, politically active neighborhood that fiercely promotes community, family, social justice and altruism. Most Wisconsinites I know admit readily that there is no place like near east Madison in the rest of the state, and most of us living here never want to leave. When Paulie Heenan moved here, he blended right in to our neighborhood and was embraced by this loving community as one of our own. He was a kind hearted artist trying to make his way and have a good time living life and making the world a better place, just like the rest of us.

When Officer Heimsness’s bullets ripped through Paulie’s body, they tore right through the heart of our community. We grieve deeply this unnecessary death and can all relate to this young man. We are artists. We are people who have been young and lacking in judgment more than once. We are Wisconsinites, where drinking is a patriotic act of local pride. Many of us have stumbled into the wrong bathroom, wrong house, wrong car, even strangers’ laps while intoxicated, and lived to tell the tales. We are the mothers and fathers of children who, we hope with all our hearts, will grow up to learn from their mistakes just like we did. But Michael Bell did not. Paulie Heenan did not.

And still, there have been very recent incidents in the news where violent, drugged up men with guns have physically attacked policemen and threatened their lives with firearms…. and lived to tell the tale – because the policemen involved did not use deadly force first. The policemen made the right choice to implement soft and hard techniques for apprehending a violent criminal before brandishing a deadly weapon. Officer Heimsness never did – he never employed the use of handcuffs, taser, or baton. He did not try to subdue Paulie. The forensic evidence is highly suspect and speaks for itself. Paulie was shot from a distance of 5-6 feet away, not in proximity of Office Heimsness’s gun. Paulie was also shot through his hand, which is an extremely common wound suffered by ​​people in defensive gestures, since it is human nature to put your hands up when a gun is pointed at you regardless of the fact that it will not stop a bullet. Officer Heimsness claimed that Paulie, stumbling drunk with a 0.208 blood alcohol level and completely unarmed, put him in fear for his life. If that is the standard by which a police officer considers his life to be in danger, then there are thousands of merry UW college students out there every week who are potentially deadly threats to the police. They all stand to face the same end as Paulie and Michael, and have their families see no justice for it. All the concluded internal investigations have not taken into account the eye witness testimonies of the people involved, who identified Paulie as a neighbor before he was shot to death. There is a reason why they, too, are behind calling for this independent investigation. Why does all this forensic and eyewitness evidence continue to be ignored?

​​Officer Heimsness’s response to a previous drunk and disorderly resulted in an employee attempting to stop the attack, calling 911 to report the police officer beating a man nearly to death, the accused victim needing to be taken to the Meriter Emergency Room instead of the county jail, and proceeding to require numerous life-changing and painful surgeries, and now suffers with permanent facial damage. A citizen called 911 on a police officer – doesn’t that strike you as all sorts of wrong? Officer Heimsness is living proof that the very biased “Home Rule” continues to ignore and pardon abuse of power from law enforcement officers, which results in an escalation of abuse on their behalf since there is ZERO PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY. Had Heimnsess not been wearing a badge when he attacked that man, he would have been prosecuted as a violent criminal. Had he not been wearing a badge when he shot Paulie, he would be prosecuted for murder. Not manslaughter, not negligent homicide, but murder. After all, he voluntarily brandished a deadly weapon with intent to discharge, and did so.

But the city of Madison and the state of Wisconsin “Home Rule” law forgave him. Again. If they had not pardoned him for beating a restrained man nearly to death in 2010, Paulie would still be alive.

Today, one six year old girl is growing up in Madison knowing that the police not only killed her friend, but also got away with it, and proceeded to unapologetically slander Paulie’s memory all over the media in the wake of her grief. This little girl is sharing her loss with her friends, who are all becoming too aware that policemen are abusive and above the law – a lesson that no one this young should learn, and a lesson that may have saved Michael and Paulie’s lives. Like many parents I know, we now see ourselves and our children in the line of fire of a police ​​gun. We all cry with the Heenan and Bell families, knowing that yes, it could have been (and can still be) any one of us. We are all angered that law enforcement officers continue to be pardoned for killing unarmed people, and our cries for justice are not heard. We do not feel safer with them patrolling our streets. Parents find themselves having to teach their children that not all police can be trusted, and that justice is not something they can count on. For them to remain ignorant of this sad truth is irresponsible. It is the best chance they have to NOT end up like Paulie and Michael (and countless other victims and survivors). ​​

Mistrust of the police is rampant now. They do not earn the respect of the public by protecting one of their own. I have no doubt that there are good police officers out there as well, but the bottom line is that even they cannot protect us from rogue officers like Heimsness – they will not call for an independent investigation, they will not tell the public that police officers are not held to the same ethical standards as the rest of the public, they will not admit that one of their own can make a fatal mistake. They will not hold themselves accountable to the very people they “protect and serve.” The “Home Rule” law guarantees that.

Now, if none of these facts move you to do anything, consider one last thing: the city of Kenosha settled with Michael Bell’s family over his death to the tune of $1.75 million dollars. Officer Heimsness’s first incidents of abuse (here and here) of power cost the city of Madison $117K in quiet, out of court settlements. That is a lot of tax payer money being spent to keep these incidents away from the media and accountable to the public – and that is not even counting whatever settlement will be rewarded after the civil suit that Paulie Heenan’s family is pursuing. People who have nothing to hide do not spend $1,860,000.

Michael Bell, Paulie Heenan, and their families have paid their taxes, they have done their share to contribute to the well being of the cities they live (and died) in, including the police department. How much insult must be added to injury, that their taxes are paying for the salaries of these exonerated officers, and the out of court settlements? Their tax dollars are paying for YOUR salary – do you dare continue to ignore them?

Do the right thing. As a mother, as a neighbor, as a tax payer, I implore you – LISTEN to your citizens. We are all calling for an independent investigation. We are all calling for law enforcement officers to be held accountable to the public they serve. We are calling for the end of “Home Rule” in Wisconsin. If police officers are above the law that we ourselves must abide by, and if their actions have no consequence even when the public cries out for answers, then we do not live in a democracy. We live in a police state.

With utmost sincerity and humanity,

[Name/Address omitted for privacy]

CC: Atty Michael May, Atty Scott Herrick, Mayor Paul Soglin