Patty Jerving and her loved ones can certainly relate to what the family of fallen Milwaukee police officer Kendall Corder must be going through.
Not only did both families have sons who lost their lives in the line of duty, but they were fatally shot by suspects who had other cases against them dismissed and, in her mind, shouldn’t have been on the streets.
“The circumstances of the shooter were the same as my son Peter’s killer: both had charges dismissed previously, and then they went out emboldened to commit even greater offenses,” Patty Jerving told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 30. “Too many judges hand out too lenient sentences. They do this in sympathy with the defendants rather than keeping in mind the victims of these crimes.”
Patty Jerving’s son, 37-year-old Peter Jerving, was killed Feb. 7, 2023 while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect near the 2700 block of South 14th Street. Jerving was shot after a struggle with Terrell I. Thompson, 19. Thompson also died from gunshot wounds.
Thompson had appeared in court the day before his encounter with Peter Jerving. At that time, a felony charge of hit-and-run-with-injury was dismissed.
Corder and officer Christopher McCray were shot on June 27 during what has been described as an ambush on June 26 in an alley in the 2200 block of North 24th Place. Corder was the sixth line of duty death of a Milwaukee police officer since 2018, and the 68th in the department’s 169-year history.
Corder and McCray were responding to reports of a suspect firing shots near North 25th Street and West Garfield Avenue, according to police.
Milwaukee police on June 28, arrested 22-year-old Tremaine Jones in connection with Corder and McCray’s shootings.
Jones has been arrested before, court records show.
He initially was charged with two misdemeanors in connection with a 2021 incident for being inside a stolen vehicle and later fleeing from police. He was 17 at the time.
Those charges were later dismissed as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, according to court records.
In Wisconsin, defendants can enter a deferred prosecution agreement, sometimes referred to as a DPA, where the prosecutor agrees to postpone or dismiss criminal charges, if the defendant meets certain conditions within a specified time window.
McCray, 29, left the hospital on June 28 and is expected to recover.
Milwaukee County Jail records show Jones was in custody on June 30, but the charges against him were pending. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel typically does not name suspects who have not been charged with a crime unless they are a public figure. The news organization is naming the suspect in this case because of the high profile nature of the incident.
Since her son’s death, Patty Jerving has become active in a Court Watch Program that was formed nearly a year ago to monitor court proceedings of selected reckless driving cases, particularly those in which a victim is hurt or killed.
The still-grieving mother said news of yet another Milwaukee officer losing their life on the job hit her and her family “very hard.”
“Our hearts are bleeding for the Corder family,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Patty Jerving understands what slain Milwaukee officer Kendall Corder’s family is feeling.
Reporting by Chris Ramirez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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