Wisconsin officer retires after allegedly pointing BB gun at students

Image 1 of 2

A Wisconsin police officer is out of a job after what appeared to be a career-ending move.  Sgt. Gayle Freises was a 14-year veteran of the New Richmond Police Department with an apparently clean record, but colleagues reportedly saw her do something that raised quite a concern.

On Oct. 8, there was a report of kids with apparent BB guns on the New Richmond High School campus.  When Freises and two of her colleagues went to investigate, one of the kids pulled an object that appeared to be a gun out of a backpack.

Colleagues said Freises then “pointed the object at the juveniles." The scene apparently was startling enough to send another officer over to see if everything was under control.

“We commend those other officers for standing up and saying a mistake was made and here's what happened,” New Richmond Mayor Fred Horne said.

Freises was put on administrative leave and officially "retired" last Tuesday. She declined Fox 9's request for comment.

The city says it's not comfortable just closing the book on this one and forgetting about it -- so they've asked the Hudson Police Department to investigate and identify exactly what went wrong.

The police department said they will retrain officers if necessary, and the chief said they've reviewed proper procedures with the men and women on patrol. 

As for any possible criminal charges, Freises has been turned over to the St. Croix County Attorney's Office for a decision there.