Firing of Milwaukee Officer Upheld by Police Commission

Milwaukee's police chief was justified in firing a white officer who killed a black man during a scuffle last year, a panel of police commissioners ruled Monday night.

The three-commissioner panel earlier Monday had found the officer violated department protocol when he tried to search the man moments before they began fighting. Some in the room cheered when the ruling on firing was announced, the Associated Press reports.

The officer shot and killed 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton last April  after a confrontation that began with the officer making a welfare check on Hamilton, who had been sleeping in a downtown park. According to the officer, Hamilton grabbed the officer's baton and attacked him with it.