Milwaukee police officer Michael Vagnini repeatedly fingered black male suspects’ anal cavities. The suspects-turned-victims were sometimes as young as 15-years-old.
It is illegal for police officers to perform cavity searches — only medical personnel are allowed to do this. Still, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn waited “a couple of years” to have Vagnini investigated for assaulting more than a dozen victims.
Vagnini was reportedly violent and did not use gloves during many of the illegal cavity searches. When asked if he had a warrant to conduct the searches, Vagnini was known to laugh. According to one victim, the officer held a gun to his head as he touched his scrotum and probed his anus. The “probing” was so violent that the man’s anus bled. Another time, the officer stuck his fingers inside the anal cavity of a 15-year-old boy while touching his genitals.
One man, Keon Canada, was searched four separate times — each times, his anus was fingered and no drugs were found.
According to the Journal Sentinel, the men that Vagnini assaulted were all black — some had drugs on them and others did not. However, several victims allege that the officer planted drugs on them.
Vagnini was recently sentenced to 26 months in jail. He does not have to register as a sex offender since his plea deal voided the sexual assault charge against him.
Four officers aided Vagnini in his illegal searches: Jacob Knight, Jeffrey Dolhopf, Brian Kozelak and Jason Mucha. They did not perform any cavity searches but they turned a blind eye to Vagnini’s actions and sometimes held victims down while the assaults occurred. They got paid leave during the investigation and subsequently were forced to quit the police force.
Many are outraged by Vagnini’s punishment and claim it is not harsh enough.
What do you think?