Police: Boys in Beating Case Are Not Yet in Custody

A police report filed Saturday lists two Milwaukee boys as having been arrested in the beating of a Wauwatosa boy, but police now say that the two are not yet in custody — although they should be soon.

Based on the police report, that 13- and 14-year-old brothers had been arrested for aggravated battery in the severe beating of a 15-year-old Wauwatosa boy that was recorded and posted as a video on a hip-hop website.

A Wauwatosa police detective found the video and recognized the two assailants as students in the Tosa schools. School officials confirmed their identities and also recognized the victim of the beating as a sophomore.

Public affairs officer Lt. Gerald Witkowski said today that it was likely that in the electronic filing system for police incident reports, the suspects' names had been prematurely checked off as arrested when they were not. The investigation is only now nearing completion and their arrests are expected soon, he said.

Wauwatosa School Superintendent Phil Ertl said Monday that he could not comment on what, if any, disciplinary action the school district might take because school officials are conducting their own investigation of the incident.

Ertl did say that any question of disciplinary action would be complicated by the fact that the incident did take place on school grounds — the playground — but happened while school was not in session.