Road rage results in felony child abuse charge

A 37-year-old man accused of following a car as it exited the freeway in Saukville and stopped in an alley, then beating two teenage brothers who were in the vehicle with a bat in what he later told officers was a bad case of road rage, was charged last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with a felony count of child abuse with the use of a dangerous weapon.

Kevin M. Hansen of Saukville was also charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and disorderly conduct, both with the use of a dangerous weapon, in connection with the Monday, May 4, incident.

According to a criminal complaint, police officer Matthew Caswell was called to the Oscar Grady Library in Saukville by an 18-year-old who said he was driving his girlfriend, 15-year-old brother and his mother to the library when he passed a red Toyota on I-43. He said the driver, who the officer later learned was Hansen, looked angry and was “cussing them out.”

The older brother said Hansen followed them as they exited the freeway in Saukville, then pulled up next to them at a traffic light, rolled down his window and began “cussing” at him for “riding his ass” before using a racial slur to refer to him, the complaint states. He said Hansen told him to get out of the car, but he continued driving toward the library.

The 18-year-old said he didn’t know where the library parking lot was, so he pulled into an alley behind the former MJ’s Bar and Grill and stopped. Hansen followed them and got out of his car with a wooden bat that witnesses described as being similar to a police baton, according to the complaint.

The brothers said that when they got out of their car, Hansen confronted them verbally, saying things like “So you think you’re tough?” and “Why are you riding people’s asses?” before hitting the older brother on the arm with bat, the complaint states.

The brothers said they began fighting back because they were concerned for their safety as well as that of the women in their car. The younger brother, who told Caswell he is epileptic, said Hansen punched him in the chest and hit him on the head with the bat, according to the complaint.

Eventually, two workers who were in the area yelled at Hansen and he left.

The younger brother was able to get his license plate number. Caswell traced it to Hansen and found the car in his driveway on Hillcrest Court.

Caswell was looking at the car when Hansen came out of his house and said, “I know why you’re here,” then described the incident as a bad case of road rage prompted by the other vehicle tailgating him on the freeway, the complaint states.

Hansen admitted to following the other car, yelling at the driver and referring to him with a racial slur at the stoplight, then getting out of his car in the alley armed with a small bat. He said he felt “endangered” and hit the older brother with the bat and punched him several times. While being arrested, Hansen said he made a bad decision and should have just kept driving, according to the complaint.

During a May 6 court hearing, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain set Hansen’s bail at $5,000 and ordered him not to posses dangerous weapons, including bats.

Physical abuse of a child is punishable by a maximum three years in prison and three years of extended supervision, although Hansen would face additional prison time if convicted of the charge he faces because the crime involved the use of a dangerous weapon.