Death by Cop 2021-2025
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Paul J. Bruner
Age : 58
Gender : Male
Race : White
Date : 09/14/2021
Location : 1300 block of Ellis Street
City : Waukesha
County : Waukesha
State : Wisconsin
Agency : Waukesha Police Department
Officer(s) :Bryce Butryn, Draelon Leija, Jarrett Fintel
Cause of Death : Taser
Event : Killed by police during medical call
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :
On 09/14/2021, 58-year-old Paul Bruner died after Waukesha police officers Bryce Butryn, Draelon Leija and Jarrett Fintel repeatedly used a Taser and physical force against him while taking him into custody during what had begun as an emergency medical call. The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team investigated the death, with Greenfield Police Department serving as the lead outside agency.
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Shortly after 1 a.m., Waukesha firefighters were dispatched to the 1300 block of Ellis Street because Bruner was having difficulty breathing. Dispatch information specifically advised responders that Bruner had COPD and used a prescribed inhaler. Bruner had significant respiratory disease; the subsequent district attorney review also documented COPD, emphysema and a heart murmur.
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A woman at the residence told responders that Bruner had previously kicked a paramedic and might become combative. When police arrived, she also reported that Bruner had struck her, and officers observed minor injuries. Police determined that probable cause existed to arrest Bruner for domestic abuse/battery. He was also subject to an existing domestic abuse injunction.
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The encounter then shifted from medical assistance to an arrest. Police said Bruner would not comply with commands and became combative. Later-released recordings provide considerably more information than was available in the initial reports. Waukesha police did not have body cameras at the time, but the officers wore microphones that captured much of the encounter.
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The recordings document officers ordering Bruner to step outside and get on the ground. Police deployed a Taser against him. According to the later district attorney review, officers used the Taser against Bruner three separate times, each deployment lasting approximately five seconds. Officers also kicked Bruner several times during the struggle.
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Critically, Bruner remained conscious and verbal during the force. After being tased, he explicitly warned the officers that their actions were endangering him, saying that they were going to kill him and that he was going to have a heart attack. He also said that he was dying while officers continued trying to handcuff him.
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After the third Taser deployment and physical struggle, Bruner became limp and unconscious. Once he was handcuffed, officers recognized that he was no longer breathing and could not find a pulse. They began CPR and used an AED. Bruner was transported to Waukesha Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly after 6 a.m.
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A neighbor who witnessed the encounter later questioned the level of force used against Bruner, describing him as an older man who had difficulty getting up and questioning why officers could not have physically restrained him without the repeated Taser use. The woman whose original medical call brought emergency personnel to the residence also told reporters afterward that she regretted calling for help.
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There was no officer body-camera recording because Waukesha police had not yet implemented body-worn cameras. Initial reporting also stated that there was no squad-camera recording of the police response. Officer microphone recordings nevertheless preserved the audio, and later reporting described police dash-camera footage showing portions of the response. The department subsequently purchased body cameras and upgraded its squad-camera system.
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Because Bruner died after police used force against him, Wisconsin's outside-investigation procedure was invoked. The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team investigated, and Greenfield Police Department led the investigation rather than Waukesha Police Department investigating its own officers. Greenfield's official MAIT case listing continues to identify the 09/14/2021 Waukesha Police Department death of Paul Bruner as one of its investigated cases.
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By June 2022, approximately nine months after Bruner's death, Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper had not yet announced a final charging decision. After FOX6 obtained the officer audio through an open-records request, Opper said she expected to announce her decision shortly.
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On 06/28/2022, Opper announced that Butryn, Leija and Fintel would not face criminal charges. The district attorney concluded that the Taser use was necessary under the circumstances. All three officers had already returned to full duty.
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Bruner's case is particularly notable because the police encounter originated as a call for emergency medical assistance for a man already experiencing serious breathing difficulty. Officers subsequently developed probable cause for an arrest, but Bruner's medical vulnerability remained part of the encounter. During the force itself, he verbally warned police that he believed he was dying and would suffer a heart attack. Police nevertheless continued the arrest, including three Taser deployments and physical force, before Bruner became unresponsive. He died several hours after the original call for help.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Bryce Butryn, Draelon Leija and Jarrett Fintel were the three Waukesha Police Department officers involved in the force used against Bruner. Their identities were not initially disclosed but became public when records and officer microphone recordings were released in 2022.
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At the time of Bruner's death, the three officers had relatively short careers with the department, collectively ranging from approximately one to four years. Because the officers' individual experience levels were not clearly assigned in the initial reporting, no specific tenure should be attributed to an individual officer without the underlying personnel records.
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The officers were placed on administrative leave immediately after Bruner's death while the outside investigation proceeded. By June 2022, all three had returned to patrol duty. The district attorney subsequently declined criminal charges against all three.
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The most important documented issue involving the officers in this case is therefore the force used against Bruner itself: three five-second Taser deployments, additional physical force including kicks, and continuation of the arrest while a man originally encountered for respiratory distress verbally warned officers that he believed he was dying and would suffer a heart attack.
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The department's equipment practices also changed after this period. Waukesha police did not have body-worn cameras during Bruner's encounter. By 2022, the city had purchased a body-camera system and upgrades to its squad cameras and was installing infrastructure and training officers for deployment.
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The Bruner investigation was not conducted internally by the officers' own department. Greenfield Police Department, acting through the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, conducted the outside investigation, and the Waukesha County District Attorney subsequently performed the criminal review. The final result was no criminal prosecution of Butryn, Leija or Fintel.
SOURCE LINKS :
https://www.fox6now.com/news/waukesha-suspect-tased-dead-officers-audio-released
https://www.fox6now.com/news/waukesha-man-tased-died-officers-no-criminal-charges
https://www.ci.greenfield.wi.us/551/Milwaukee-Area-Investigative-Team
