A Milwaukee police officer who shot and killed an armed man in August has been suspended from duty after being charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case.
The Milwaukee Police Department confirmed Thursday that Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, 24, was charged after a man claimed that Haeggan-Brown sexually assaulted him on Aug. 14, a day after Heaggan-Brown shot and killed 23-year-old Sylville Smith.
Smith was shot and killed after fleeing a traffic stop while he was armed with a handgun, according to authorities. Police said body camera footage showed Smith pointing the gun toward Heaggan-Brown before the officer opened fire.
Authorities have not said whether Heaggan-Brown is expected to face charges in the shooting.
The killing sparked three days of violent protests.
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According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the victim met Heaggan-Brown on Facebook in July while looking for someone to help with his music. Heaggan-Brown is an amateur rapper.
Heaggan-Brown invited him to meet on Aug. 14 and the man agreed, according to the complaint. They went to a bar, where they got drinks and Heaggan-Brown settled in to watch TV coverage of the unrest caused by Smith's death.
While watching, he "bragged about being able to do whatever (he) wanted without repercussions," according to the complaint.
The victim told police that he doesn't drink often and that by the time he left the bar, his memory was spotty. However, he told authorities that he awakened to find Heaggan-Brown raping him and felt as though he might have been drugged.
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Heaggan-Brown took the man to the hospital and told police it was because the man was acting "weird and unresponsive" after their trip to the bar.
"Hospital staff noted the man was crying and looked extremely traumatized as he recounted what happened," the Journal-Sentinel reported.
Hours later, Heaggan-Brown sent a text message to Sgt. Joseph Hall, a fellow officer whom Heaggan-Brown saw as a mentor, the newspaper reported.
"Need your help big time," he wrote. "(Expletive) up big time… But need to handle this the most secret and right way possible."
Heaggan-Brown told Hall that he had consensual sex with the man, "but admitted the man was drunk and had 'medical issues,'" the Journal-Sentinel reported.
Prosecutors charged him with two counts each of second-degree sexual assault and prostitution. He also faces one count of possessing or distributing a recording of nudity without consent.
Milwaukee police have opened an internal investigation into the allegations.
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