Wisconsin Man Steals Police Car, Mid-Chase, Hits Officers and Another Squad Car Before Crashing
A 26-year-old Wisconsin man led police on multiple chases in multiple vehicles, including a police car he stole after officers boxed him in.
According to the Wauwatosa Police Department, it all began just after 10 a.m. while a Wauwatosa police officer was on patrol at the Mayfair Mall. Mall security had asked the 26-year-old man to leave the property when the officer saw him get into a white minivan.
When the officer checked the minivan’s license plate, he discovered that the man was involved in a domestic incident and a police chase in Oak Creek earlier that morning. The officers terminated the chase due to excessive speeds. Brown Deer police also pursued the suspect in another chase that day, but the suspect again escaped without arrest. They didn’t say why they stopped their chase.
Police had the suspect cornered, but they left one of their cruisers running and unoccupied
As the minivan was leaving, the officer attempted to stop it, but the driver took off, leading to yet another chase. During the chase, the suspect performed a U-turn, but other officers eventually had him “contained.”
It was at that point that the man exited the white minivan and hopped into an unoccupied Wauwatosa Police Department cruiser. While officers tried to arrest him, the suspect put the squad car in reverse, hitting an occupied Wauwatosa police car and several officers, knocking them to the ground. He then took off again.
During that chase, the Wauwatosa Police Department said the suspect drove through side streets and yards before hitting another squad car. He then tried to flee, but the officers captured him after a short foot chase.
Eyewitnesses to the end of the chase shared what they saw
“It happened really quickly,” witness Mia Geiger told Fox 6 News. “We kind of saw like 20-plus cop cars come down North Avenue and then, a minute later, kind of turn around and come back this way, which is when we saw the two cop cars collide, and then the chase after that.”
“Yeah, he was actually turning around at this U-Turn here, and they hit while he was coming down this way, and the guy who stole the police car hopped over to the other side of the road, and that’s where, unfortunately, the other civilian car got hit,” witness Michelle Cochran told WISN News. “Then he hopped out and started running, and the police officer got him and brought him down to the ground.”
The suspect hit a total of four Wauwatosa officers, and paramedics took them to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police also reported that an internal review will investigate how the suspect gained access to one of their vehicles.
