Early Thursday morning in Wauwatosa, what police say started as reckless driving on city streets ended with a crumpled car at a Highway 175 on-ramp and a 13-year-old behind the wheel headed to juvenile detention. According to the Wauwatosa Police Department, as reported by FOX6 News Milwaukee, officers spotted the vehicle around 2:18 a.m. near 56th Street and Lisbon and tried to pull it over after seeing what they described as reckless driving. Police say they switched on their emergency lights and sirens, but the driver hit the gas instead of the brakes.
The pursuit wound its way to the area of West Lisbon Avenue and the Highway 175 on-ramp, where authorities told FOX6 News Milwaukee the vehicle crashed while attempting to turn from Lisbon onto the ramp.
Custody and charges
Police said the young driver did not get far after the crash. “The 13-year-old driver was booked, processed and taken to juvenile detention,” officials told FOX6 News Milwaukee. A 12-year-old passenger was also taken into custody, processed and then released.
Two other occupants ran from the wreck and were not located, according to the report. Police said the driver and one other juvenile stayed at the scene and surrendered. Charges for the 13-year-old will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.
Local context
The early-morning pursuit drops into a tense local conversation about police chases in and around Wauwatosa. Earlier this winter, a separate incident involving an allegedly stolen Wauwatosa squad car turned into a multi-jurisdiction pursuit that injured officers and triggered internal reviews, according to TMJ4…