'It's out of control': Car crashes increase by 2,000 over 2017 in Milwaukee
Milwaukee's streets are turning into a virtual demolition derby, with city officials saying Thursday that last year's number of motor vehicle crashes was the highest in a decade.
There were 16,338 crashes in Milwaukee — an average of almost 45 a day — which was 2,282 more than in 2017, according to police officials.
A Milwaukee Police Department report presented to the Public Safety and Health Committee found that the number of crashes stood at 12,975 in 2008. The number dropped below 11,000 for the next four years and then rose steadily since then. Last year, the city recorded its single largest leap.
"These numbers, while they're terrible, I'm honestly amazed they're not worse," Ald. Mark Borkowski said during the meeting. "It's out of control."
The number of injuries also increased during the last decade, from 5,558 in 2008 to 6,737 in 2018.
One bright spot: Fatalities linked to crashes dropped slightly in 2018 to 57, compared to 64 in 2017.
Jump in police pursuits
Some of the increase in crashes has been fueled by a jump in police pursuits. Police officials said 240 crashes in 2018 were related to pursuits, resulting in six deaths.
That's almost three times the number in 2017, when 85 pursuits resulted in crashes, according to a report released this month by the Fire and Police Commission.
Police said a new initiative would launch Wednesday aimed at combating reckless drivers, in part targeting areas that have a high number of crashes.
The crash numbers were released one week after the Fire and Police Commission report showed Milwaukee police chased fleeing drivers 940 times during 2018, a 155% increase over the previous year, due largely to a policy change allowing officers to pursue reckless drivers.
RELATED:Milwaukee police pursuits jump 155% after policy change targeting reckless drivers
Twenty officers were injured during the pursuits, one fatally, along with 165 pursuit subjects, five of whom died.
Milwaukee police defended department pursuit policy after the deaths of two suspects during chases in less than a week.
A statement issued by the department late Wednesday night said despite their inherent dangers, such pursuits are necessary in order to keep the city safe.
"Milwaukee Police must apprehend individuals who recklessly disregard the law and place the lives of others in danger by fleeing from police and/or by arbitrarily driving reckless through our city’s streets," the statement said. "Without an expansive pursuit policy, many criminals could avoid apprehension by simply driving away."
Police said part of the problem is that drivers still believe officers will not chase them.
Ald. Chantia Lewis and Ald. Michael Murphy urged police officials to step up their marketing campaign to inform people about the risks of reckless driving and make it clear that police will pursue drivers.
But Borkowski said it's not about education.
"It's really about putting the hammer down," Borkowski said.
Two fatal crashes
A police chase April 18 in which 18-year-old Larenzo Jones was fatally injured stemmed from a triple shooting that wounded two girls, ages 13 and 16, and a 14-year-old boy. A 14-year-old boy was later charged with the shooting in juvenile court.
Jones was a passenger in the suspect vehicle, which was linked to the shooting.
The pursuit of the Hyundai Accent carrying Jones began near Sherman Boulevard and West North Avenue and reached speeds of between 65 and 75 mph.
It continued on a circuitous route south on Sherman and through residential streets, ending at 40th and North, where the driver of the Accent, Marcellus M. Purifoy, 18, ran a stop sign and collided with a school bus and a pickup truck, according to a criminal complaint.
A police sergeant chasing the Accent told investigators traffic was heavier on North Avenue and that he planned to end the pursuit if the Accent did not stop at the intersection.
A 13-year-old boy on the school bus, an occupant of the pickup truck, along with Purifoy and two other occupants of Purifoy's vehicle were injured in the crash, police said. Purifoy was charged this week in connection with the crash.
Two days later, Dequan M. Roquemore, 27, was killed when he crashed into a house at North 13th Street and West Capitol Drive at the end of a police pursuit that started with a drug complaint.
The car struck and broke a natural gas meter, causing a natural gas leak and setting the house on fire.
The statement from police said the pursuit policy is a major factor behind a decrease in violent crime and drug-related crime through the mobile drug market.
It also cited a 16% decrease in homicides since 2017 and a 15% drop in nonfatal shootings.
The statement stressed the training officers receive for conducting pursuits, their oversight by supervisors and the discretion of officers and supervisors to terminate chases deemed too dangerous to continue.
Chase technology discontinued
A memo issued to officers in January ordered the discontinuation of the use of the highly-touted StarChase technology designed to help officers avoid high-speed chases.
StarChase employs squad-mounted devices that fire GPS units onto fleeing vehicles in order to track them. Milwaukee police began using the devices in 2015.
The memo also stated the devices would be dismantled from all department vehicles on which they were installed.
On Thursday, Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Sheronda Grant said the primary reason for the discontinuation was that offenders knew how the technology works and were removing the tracking devices from their vehicles.
Weather conditions also hindered the GPS deployment on vehicles and the technology was relatively expensive, about $5,000 per squad, Grant said in a subsequent statement.
In a statement, Ald. Bob Donovan also defended the police pursuit policy, saying that the fault for any injuries or deaths that result lies solely with those who flee from officers.
"That is something really worth remembering," Donovan said.
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mary.spicuzza.