Authorities face ‘big time’ increase in high-speed car chases

On Saturday, Nov. 13, the driver of a Toyota Camry without license plates was heading north on Highway 57 in the Town of Saukville when he spotted an Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy, turned around and sped south, weaving through traffic at 100 mph on both Highway 57 and I-43 until authorities stopped him with tire spikes in the Town of Cedarburg.

Exactly a week before that, a deputy attempted to pull over a car that had exited I-43 at Saukville because a check of his records showed the driver didn’t have a license, but instead of stopping, the driver sped south on Highway W at more than 100 mph, entered I-43 in the Town of Grafton and weaved in and out of traffic, passing vehicles on the shoulder, until he disappeared in the City of Milwaukee.

Also last month, a woman sped past a deputy monitoring traffic on I-43 in the Town of Saukville at more than 100 mph and refused to stop when the officer activated his emergency lights and siren.

Eventually the driver pulled over, and in the front seat authorities found a 13-month-old child. The boy was in a car seat, but he was not strapped into it and the child seat was not secured to the car.

“The boy had almost climbed out of the seat on his own as officers approached the car,” according to the criminal complaint in that case.

All three drivers were charged recently in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with multiple felonies and are among a growing number of drivers who despite the danger, odds of getting caught and penalties they face decide to make a run for it when confronted by authorities.

“The last two years we’ve seen a spike big time,” Ozaukee County Undersheriff Christy Knowles said. “2020 was a big year, and we’re right on track with that this year.”

In 2020, deputies were involved in 12 pursuits, the most in recent history. This year, there have been 10 chases — three in November alone — and those numbers don’t include the times when deputies decide not to pursue drivers because the risk to the public is too great, Knowles said.

The facts in the November incidents differ, but what they have in common is that despite the odds of disaster, all of them ended without anyone being injured.

That, Knowles said, is the intent of a comprehensive pursuit policy followed not only by the Sheriff’s Office but all law enforcement agencies in Ozaukee County.

“We all follow the same policy, which makes us a model for other counties,” she said. “It’s specific, yet it leaves room for officers to use their discretion.

“Some think it’s a non-pursuit policy, but it’s really not.”

Officers in Ozaukee County will certainly chase drivers under the right circumstances, but the pursuit policy essentially reflects the idea that in some cases a pursuit isn’t needed or warranted given the danger to the public. 

Knowles said that if officers are able to identify the vehicle and even the driver and a chase would present a danger to the public, the decision is usually made not to pursue.

Every pursuit is monitored via radio by a shift commander who can make the decision in an instant not to pursue, she said.

“When we start seeing people fleeing at 110 mph or more, it’s just too risky for everyone involved,” Knowles said.

The policy reflects the fact that when officers decide not to pursue or break off a chase, they haven’t given up.

“Fleeing represents a total disregard for the law and the safety of others and drivers do it because they think they will get away, but that’s not how it works,” Knowles said. 

Even if officers decide not to chase a vehicle, other officers are waiting along the suspects’ escape route and in many cases use tire spikes to stop vehicles. And if those don’t work, it’s just a matter of time before authorities catch up to the suspects, Knowles said. “We’ve been throwing our tire spikes a lot lately,” she said.

That’s how Edgar A. Perez Martinez was stopped in the Nov. 13 case that started at 5:15 p.m. in Saukville and ended 11 miles later in Mequon, where all four tires on his 1998 gold Toyota Camry were deflated.

After being stopped, the 24-year-old Milwaukee man got out of the car, told deputies he “screwed up” and said he sped away from them because he didn’t have licence plates on his car, according to the criminal complaint charging him with second-degree endangering safety and attempting to elude officers.

But according to the complaint, there was another reason Perez Martinez wanted so desperately to avoid arrest that he cut off other cars as he swerved across lanes of I-43 at triple-digit speeds.

In his car, authorities found marijuana, cocaine and $260, and because of the amount of drugs and the way they were packaged, they suspect Perez Martinez intended to sell them, the complaint states.

He is also charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and possession of marijuana.

In the case involving Bradford R. Figg, the man who sped away from a deputy after exiting I-43 in Saukville at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, officers decided not to chase him because of how recklessly and fast he was driving.

That, however, did not stop Figg, who raced past multiple deputies on I-43 as he drove into Milwaukee County, where Bayside and Glendale officers followed him until he entered the City of Milwaukee, according to the criminal complaint in that case.

Figg, 26, a longtime Mequon resident, is still at large, but authorities recognized him almost immediately from his previous arrests, which factored into the decision not to chase him, Knowles said, adding that it’s just a matter of time before he is arrested.

Although authorities have yet to find Figg, they found a bag containing marijuana and a marijuana grinder that, according to the complaint, he threw out of his car window in Saukville.

In addition to attempting to flee officers and second degree recklessly endangering safety, he is charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia as well as bail jumping.

At the time of the incident, Figg was free in lieu of $15,000 bail in connection with a 2020 case in which he is charged with a slew of felonies, including being a felon in possession of a gun, drug possession and child neglect.

While the deputy who tried to pull Figg over didn’t chase him, the officer who was monitoring traffic on I-43 when Kennyetta A. Scott flew past him driving at what he estimated was more than 100 mph at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, did pursue her.

According to the criminal complaint charging the 21-year-old Milwaukee woman with attempting to elude officers and endangering safety, the deputy, who had been in the median, pulled onto I-43 and despite hitting speeds of 120 mph couldn’t catch up to her initially.

Scott eventually slowed and appeared to be pulling over near the Highway 32 overpass in Grafton but then continued south at speeds that ranged from 55 to 69 mph, the complaint states.

Tire spikes had been set up on I-43 in Mequon, but Scott pulled over before that at Pioneer Road in Cedarburg. That’s when she told the deputy her 13-month-old son was in the car.

“Can you believe it?” Knowles asked, referring to the fact a 13-month-old child was sitting unrestrained in the front seat of a car that was traveling at more than 100 mph. 

This was an instance, she said, when pursuing the driver was the right decision.

“Who knows why she was going that fast, but thank God she was stopped before she lost control of her vehicle and we were dealing with serious injuries or even a fatality,” Knowles said.