White Supremacist Group Invoked in Threat On Officer's Family

A 53 year-old Milwaukee man arrested Saturday and now charged with his fifth count of drunken driving threatened a Wauwatosa officer and his family, invoking the Aryan Brotherhood and a Texas double murder in the threat, police reported.

He also claimed to have once actually tried to kill a Wauwatosa police officer – and court records suggest that he may have been telling the truth.

Jeffrey Louis Strasser was charged Tuesday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with operating while intoxicated, fifth offense, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison, and with disorderly conduct.

According to police report and court records:

At 4:24 p.m. Saturday, first a Milwaukee County deputy and then two civilian drivers reported Strasser swerving between lanes on Hwy. 45 and after exiting onto North Avenue, crossing the center line and nearly sideswiping oncoming cars.

The two citizen callers were so concerned they followed Strasser, continuing to provide real-time updates, until an officer caught up to him and pulled him over in the 2200 block of Lefeber Avenue. The witnesses stayed on the scene to provide officers full reports.

Strasser failed field sobriety tests and was told he was under arrest. He was handcuffed but then became both belligerent and pleading, asking if he couldn't somehow be let off while refusing to get into a squad car.

Stasser refused to give a voluntary blood sample and was taken to Wisconsin Heart Hospital for a blood draw. Strasser kicked and flailed, and it took four police officers to hold him down, their reports said.

During the booking process, Strasser became "highly emotional and uncooperative," according to the reports. He made numerous references to the Aryan Brotherhood and said his son was a member.

Strasser then said the Aryan Brotherhood would pay the officer and his family a visit. When the officer asked what he meant by the comment, he referenced the recent double-murder in Kaufman County, Texas.

“You know what it means,” he said. “Like the district attorney and his wife.”

ABC News reports that the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a prison gang, is suspected to be involved in the murder of Kaufman County, TX, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, who was shot and killed on Jan. 31, and also with the murder of Mike McLelland, Kaufman County district attorney, and his wife Cynthia, who were killed on March 30.

Last November, 34 members of the gang, including four senior leaders, were indicted on federal charges, according to the FBI.

Whether there was any substance to Strasser's claims to connections with the supremacist group, another claim he made has some ring of chilling truth.

Strasser also told the arresting officer that 12 years ago, he had tried to kill another Wauwatosa police officer by running him down with his car.

Strasser's court record, while lacking details that would confirm exactly what he did, shows that not 12, but rather 15 years ago he pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment of safety, a Class E felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. He was ordered to prison for 18 months.

In that incident, Strasser was also initially charged with felony fleeing an officer. That charge was dismissed on a prosecutor's motion.

During the ride from the Wauwatosa police station to the County Jail, officers said, Strasser began screaming, "Let me out of here!" and tried to kick out the doors of the squad car.