John Balcerzak is the former Milwaukee police officer who, on May 27, 1991, returned a naked, bleeding 14-year-old boy to Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment, where the boy was killed hours later. Balcerzak was fired that September, reinstated by a state court in 1994, later served as president of the Milwaukee Police Association, and retired from the department on June 15, 2017.1NBC 26. Milwaukee Police Officer Who Gave 14-Year-Old Back to Jeffrey Dahmer Retires
What Happened on May 27, 1991
Late that night, 18-year-old Sandra Smith and her 17-year-old cousin Nicole Childress found a naked, bleeding, disoriented teenage boy in an alley on Milwaukee’s Near West Side. The boy was Konerak Sinthasomphone, a 14-year-old Laotian immigrant who had been drugged and had escaped from Jeffrey Dahmer’s apartment. Childress called 911.2Chicago Tribune. Race Kept Cry for Help From Being Heard, Some in Milwaukee Say
Balcerzak, Officer Joseph Gabrish, and Officer Richard Porubcan responded. Dahmer approached them at the scene and said Sinthasomphone was his 19-year-old lover who had had too much to drink. Smith and Childress tried to explain that the boy was a child who appeared to have been hurt. According to Smith, an officer told her he had been “investigating for seven years” and did not need “an amateur telling me what to do,” then told the women to “get lost.”2Chicago Tribune. Race Kept Cry for Help From Being Heard, Some in Milwaukee Say The officers ordered Milwaukee Fire Department paramedics off the scene.3UMKC School of Law. Estate of Sinthasomphone v. City of Milwaukee
Accepting Dahmer’s story, the officers categorized the call as a “boyfriend-boyfriend thing” and escorted Sinthasomphone back inside Dahmer’s apartment.4Newsweek. Milwaukee PD Congratulated Retired Cop Who Laughed Off Teen Victim of Dahmer A basic background check would have shown that Dahmer was on probation for sexually assaulting Sinthasomphone’s older brother, Somsack, in 1988.5People. Glenda Cleveland Called Police Multiple Times About Jeffrey Dahmer After the officers left, they were recorded on police radio joking about the call. Balcerzak later described the exchange as routine “jocularity.” Dahmer killed Konerak Sinthasomphone that same evening.3UMKC School of Law. Estate of Sinthasomphone v. City of Milwaukee
Glenda Cleveland’s Ignored Calls
After the officers drove off, Smith and Childress told Smith’s mother, Glenda Cleveland, what had happened. Cleveland called the police station repeatedly, asking whether the boy in Dahmer’s custody was in fact a child in danger. She was told it was an “argument between two lovers.”2Chicago Tribune. Race Kept Cry for Help From Being Heard, Some in Milwaukee Say When Sinthasomphone was later reported missing, Cleveland saw his photo in a newspaper and called police again. She also tried to reach the FBI. None of the calls were returned.5People. Glenda Cleveland Called Police Multiple Times About Jeffrey Dahmer Dahmer was arrested on July 22, 1991.
Fired in September 1991
On July 26, 1991, Balcerzak, Gabrish, and Porubcan were suspended and charged with departmental violations. A state investigation found no criminal conduct, but Milwaukee Police Chief Philip Arreola pursued internal discipline. On September 6, 1991, Arreola fired Balcerzak and Gabrish, citing “acts of omission” and their failure to “properly perform their duties.” The officers had not taken witnesses’ names, had not taken an “obviously incapacitated” child into protective custody, and had violated department procedures. Porubcan, considered less experienced, was placed on a year of close supervision instead of terminated.6Los Angeles Times. Milwaukee Police Chief Fires Officers in Dahmer Case
Reinstated in 1994
Balcerzak and Gabrish appealed to the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, which upheld the firings. They then took the case to state court. In April 1994, Reserve Circuit Court Judge Robert Parins ruled that the officers had been “unfairly found guilty of gross negligence” and that termination was “disproportionate to their mistakes.”7Chicago Tribune. Panel Appeals Reinstating 2 Officers in Dahmer Case The officers had pled guilty only to a single charge, “failing to familiarize themselves with police department responsibilities,” while the chief had argued their conduct violated department rules in fifteen or sixteen different ways.8Findlaw. Balcerzak v. City of Milwaukee
The Board rescinded the discharges and substituted 60-day suspensions without pay. Both men returned to the Milwaukee Police Department, and each received $55,000 in back pay.9Decider. Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story – John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish
His Federal Discrimination Suit
While the state appeal was pending, Balcerzak and Gabrish filed a federal lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the chief and the Board, claiming their discharge was racially motivated because they are white. The U.S. District Court dismissed the equal protection claim on claim-preclusion grounds, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed. Because the officers had already litigated the discharge through Wisconsin’s state administrative process, and had pled guilty to the departmental violation, they could not relitigate constitutional claims in federal court.8Findlaw. Balcerzak v. City of Milwaukee
Public accusations against the officers ran the other direction. Sandra Smith said at the time, “I think it was prejudice, because Jeff and they were white, the boy was Asian, and we were black.”2Chicago Tribune. Race Kept Cry for Help From Being Heard, Some in Milwaukee Say The Sinthasomphone family’s civil suit alleged the Milwaukee Police Department had a “longstanding practice of intentional discrimination against and reckless disregard of the rights of racial minorities and homosexuals.”3UMKC School of Law. Estate of Sinthasomphone v. City of Milwaukee The City of Milwaukee settled that suit in 1995 for $850,000.10Spokesman-Review. City Agrees to Settle in Dahmer Suit
Union President, Then Retirement
After his reinstatement, Balcerzak stayed on the force for more than two decades. He succeeded Bradley DeBraska as president of the Milwaukee Police Association, the department’s union, serving roughly from 2005 to 2009. His election was attributed to “heavy backing from the mostly white old guard” within the department, and his tenure drew recall petitions in at least two district stations. Milwaukee Magazine called his leadership a “disaster.”11Milwaukee Magazine. Troubles at the Police Union
Balcerzak retired on June 15, 2017. The department posted a tweet congratulating him. That post resurfaced in June 2020 during nationwide protests over policing, and users called it “beyond sickening” and “despicable.” The Milwaukee Police Department responded: “MPD has come a long way over the past 29 years and is committed to protecting and serving everyone in our community.”4Newsweek. Milwaukee PD Congratulated Retired Cop Who Laughed Off Teen Victim of Dahmer
What Balcerzak Has Said About That Night
In a 1991 interview, Balcerzak offered a defense he has not retracted: “At the time, with the information we had — to this day I think we did the appropriate thing, the best that we could.”4Newsweek. Milwaukee PD Congratulated Retired Cop Who Laughed Off Teen Victim of Dahmer
His Portrayal in the Netflix Series
The 2022 Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story revived public interest in Balcerzak, played by actor Scott Michael Morgan. The show’s depiction of the May 27 encounter was described as “fairly accurate,” but it added scenes that did not happen. The officers are shown receiving an “Officer of the Year” commendation; they did not. The series also depicts officers making threatening phone calls to the Sinthasomphone family. Chief Arreola confirmed the family did receive threatening calls from officers and an officer’s spouse, but there is no evidence Balcerzak or Gabrish personally made those calls.12Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. What’s Real and Fiction in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story