Like most every other city in the country, Milwaukee has seen daily peaceful protests against police brutality.
On Saturday, one such protest was blocked by a Milwaukee Karen, an attorney named Stephanie Rapkin, who parked her car in the protesters path and then walked away from the car. She refused to move her car despite several people asking her to move it.
It escalated to the point at which Rapkin spat in the face of an African American teenager:
Several people continue to urge her to move her car. Another group of protesters approaches the woman, shouting at her while she shouts back.
Rapkin can then be seen spitting on a young African American male. Quickly, bystanders get between Rapkin and the young man; they surround the woman and usher her away.
Later that same day, the protesters went to Rapkin's house and started shaming her by chalking things on the public sidewalk in front of her house.
Apparently being a slow learner, Rapkin came out of her home and started getting into the faces of the protesters until she assaulted another protester:
On the video, the two are seen arguing about her spitting on the 17-year-old boy. Rapkin tells Friedman, who was holding the camera, that she was simply responding to being physically attacked by the boy, and she then demonstrated the supposed attack by appearing to shove Friedman in the chest.
"You just put your hands on me," Friedman said in response. "That is assault right there. Wow, I just got that on video, ma'am."
Friedman, a communications major, said in the interview that he was stunned that Rapkin had compounded her earlier mistake by pushing him. A woman at the scene, he said, immediately called the police to report what happened.
When the police arrived, Rapkin was holed up in her abode. When police got into the home and told her that she was under arrest, she went full Karen on one of the officers:
When police told Rapkin she was under arrest for battery and disorderly conduct, she resisted their attempts to handcuff her. During the struggle, police said, Rapkin struck one of the officers in the groin.
Shorewood Police are now seeking charges of battery, disorderly conduct, battery to a law enforcement officer, and resisting/obstructing an officer.
She got to spend the weekend in the county jail, which must have been pure hell for her, since I guarantee she never got to speak to the manager.
Karen's, er I mean, Rapkin's woes doesn't end there.
Attorney Mike Maistelman filed a formal complaint against Rapkin with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. They will conduct an investigation and if deemed necessary, will send it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court who will decide what consequences, if any, she will face.
I contacted Maistelman who gave me this statement:
"If you are not actively seeking justice for all, then you are supporting injustice. We must all take affirmative action to end discrimination of any kind."
Rapkin can't look to the State Bar of Wisconsin for succor either. They haven't taken a kindly view of her behavior either:
Larry J. Martin, executive director of the State Bar of Wisconsin, wrote on Sunday that he watched the video of the spitting incident and is "both disgusted and disturbed. ... There is no justifiable reason for one person to ever spit on another individual."
A video of the incidents and subsequent arrest can be seen here on Facebook.
