Video by UW Law School students focuses on officer-involved deaths

As communities across the country wrestle with emotions associated with officer-involved deaths, several law students at the University of Wisconsin are trying to educate the public on laws regarding the issue.

“We saw around the country that there was a lot of confusion, frustration, sometimes anger when decisions like this come and I think a large part of it was the fact the public wasn’t aware of the law, how it was applied and how the investigations were conducted,” said Stan Davis, an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Davis worked with six Latino or black law school students to create a 14-minute video explaining the law in a way the general public can understand.

“I came to law school to become a better advocate for my community and this video gave me the chance to do that,” said Aissa Olivarez, president of the Latino Latina Law Student Association at UW-Madison.

With a decision looming in the shooting death of Tony Robinson, the students are hoping young people in Madison will watch the video and get a better understanding of the law and how police-involved death investigations are handled.

“I think our hope for the video is that we can have an impact on the community and that they will be eased and understand what went into the Tony Robinson decision,” said Qortney McLeod, co-president of the Black Law Student Association at UW-Madison.

The hope is young people in the community will connect with the second- and third-year law students.

“We’re hopeful that coming from these students the message will be better received, better internalized and more effective,” Davis said.

“This is going to be an emotional situation no matter what happens. What we want to do is make sure that emotion isn’t based on lack of understanding,” Davis said.