LETTER: ‘Brutalizing’ women, police showed the city’s true colors

To Ozaukee Press:

As the husband of Christine Le Jeune, one of the three women brutalized by

Port Washington police during the Common Council meeting last Dec.1, I witnessed how unscripted moments reveal truths about the underlying political dynamics of our city. 

That night exposed the impotence and incompetence of both the mayor and the city attorney in handling a disturbance during public commentary. This disturbance was not caused by local taxpayers. Men in uniform created that disturbance. Nothing illustrates this failure more starkly than the mayor’s desperate response when a resident pleaded with him to stop the arrests: “I can’t.” In that moment, the city’s leadership showed exactly how little control they had over the situation unfolding in front of them. 

That evening police did not just focus on the three women. They initially tried to remove me from the chamber. I had not provided commentary that evening. The warning signs were visible even before the meeting began. In the entrance hall of City Hall, former Police Chief Hingiss yelled at citizens, including myself, complaining bitterly about overtime and urging residents to stop dissenting with the local government. His conduct during the recent trial was no better: calling in remotely from somewhere in Ozaukee County and refusing to identify his employer. 

These are not the actions of someone committed to transparency or public trust. These unscripted moments matter. They remind us that personnel is policy. The situation in Port Washington is what it is because our representatives are who they are. Leadership is revealed not in prepared remarks, but in how people behave when the script falls away.

Sebastian Elischer

Port Washington