Driver faces prison for wild I-43 chase

A 32-year-old Milwaukee man who in January led authorities from four departments on a high-speed chase on I-43 — at one point driving south in the northbound lanes and forcing other drivers to take evasive action — pleaded guilty to three felonies in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Monday.

The pleas of Deondra K. Shackelford, who continued to flee officers even after the tires of his truck were shredded by tire spikes and a sheriff’s deputy intentionally hit his truck, were accepted by Judge Steve Cain, who found him guilty of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, fleeing an officer resulting in bodily harm and possession of narcotic drugs.

Shackelford eventually crashed after exiting the freeway in Grafton and was arrested. Fentanyl was found in his truck.

Ozaukee County District Attorney Benjamin Lindsay recommended during Monday’s hearing that Shackelford be sentenced to five years in prison and five years of extended supervision. Cain scheduled his sentencing for Dec. 4.

According to the complaint, deputy Wade Navis was on patrol on I-43 on Saturday, Jan. 25, when he saw a red Chevrolet pickup truck traveling north at 94 mph just south of the Highway H exit on the north side of Port Washington. A check of the truck’s registration showed the owner’s license had been revoked for a driving while intoxicated conviction.

Navis followed the truck, which was deviating from its lane and continued to pull away from him despite the fact the deputy was driving at 96 mph. 

When Navis activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and siren, the driver of the truck, later identified as Shackelford, began driving in the middle of both lanes.

Just north of Highway LL, Shackelford attempted to use an emergency turnaround but missed it, then drove through the median before turning around and heading south on I-43, the complaint states.

With the Saukville, Grafton and Port Washington police departments called to help, deputy Michael Zilke parked his vehicle on the off ramp at Highway 33 in Saukville to discourage Shackelford from exiting the freeway.

Shackelford, driving at about 70 mph, tried to exit the freeway by driving around Zilke’s vehicle on the shoulder of the off ramp, missing the deputy’s SUV by feet, then abruptly cut back across the ramp and continued south on I-43, according to the complaint. 

The truck then hit tire spikes deployed by a Saukville officer, but continued south. With rubber flying off his tires, Shackelford passed an ambulance while driving at 102 mph, the complaint states.

As Shackelford passed Highway 32 in the Town of Grafton, his truck began fishtailing and slowed but did not stop. When he drove into the median to avoid another set of tire spikes, one of the tires flew off his truck.

Farther south, a Port Washington police officer deployed additional tire spikes. Shackelford drove onto the shoulder to avoid them, then used an emergency turnaround and began driving south in the northbound lanes, forcing oncoming vehicles to swerve out of the way to avoid collisions, according to the complaint.

Officers with their vehicles’ emergency lights on flanked Shackelford’s truck as he passed 11 vehicles while he continued driving south in the northbound lanes.

Shackelford made unsafe maneuvers to avoid a Grafton police officer who tried to stop him. Then, because of the risk Shackelford posed to other drivers, deputy Tyler Schleg intentionally hit the back of his truck multiple times before spinning it around 180 degrees so it was facing north in the northbound lanes.

Shackelford drove north, exited the freeway at Highway 60 in Grafton, turned right, crashed near Juice’s Ghost Town restaurant and was arrested.

A woman who was in the front passenger seat told authorities that she was asleep and woke up to hear Shackelford telling her the police were chasing them. 

She said she had neck and side pain and was taken to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.

A woman in the back seat, who was wanted in a felony case in Brown County, refused to talk to officers.

Zilke searched the truck and found several burnt straws of the type that are used to smoke or snort drugs and a tan, rock-like substance that later tested positive for fentanyl, the complaint states.

When Shackelford was being booked into the Ozaukee County jail, he removed a cut straw and two cubes that looked exactly like the fentanyl found in his truck from one of his orifices, according to the complaint. The substance was not field tested because of concerns about the safety of officers.

Shackelford has been held in the county jail in lieu of $40,000 bail since his arrest.