Two young boys are dead and two other children are hospitalized after a driver fled from sheriff’s deputies and crashed his vehicle in Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
The crash occurred just before midnight on Wednesday in the town of Delafield, about 25 miles west of Milwaukee. A Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department deputy attempted a traffic stop for the vehicle, which was speeding and had no plates displayed, according to a news release from the department, but the driver fled. A chase ensued, and the vehicle crashed and rolled over.
There were six occupants inside the vehicle, including the driver, a 29-year-old man who was wanted on a warrant for felony possession of a firearm. He is in critical but stable condition, according to the news release. Also in the car was the driver’s 29-year-old girlfriend, who is in critical but stable condition.
The two boys who died were both ten years old and were the driver’s sons. The driver’s niece, 14, was also in the car and is in critical condition. The youngest occupant of the car was the six-year-old daughter of the two adults in the vehicle. She was transported to an area hospital by Flight for Life, officials said, and remains in critical condition.
Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson said in a news conference that deputies “didn’t even have a chance to make contact with the driver,” and said that the car traveled at such a “high rate of speed” during the chase that deputies were no longer able to see the vehicle.
“The fact that two children lost their lives this morning as a result of really bad decision making is really sad to all of us,” Severson said. “This didn’t need to happen. We struggle in our communities to make sure the roads are safe, that we’re enforcing the law. We want to do everything we can to not have these situations take place.”
The crash is now being investigated by the Wisconsin State Patrol. Severson said that the driver, who was not identified by authorities, may face additional charges, brought by the state police, including counts of fleeing and eluding causing death and counts of reckless driving causing death.
The police response to the incident will be investigated by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, officials said, because of a Wisconsin state statute requiring an independent law enforcement team investigate any incident where an individual dies as the result of “an action or an omission of a law enforcement officer.”
Severson emphasized that he believed the deputies involved in the incident had done nothing wrong.
“We have no evidence to believe laws were violated. … It looks like they did their job right,” he said, later adding that the deputy who had attempted to stop the vehicle was still on duty.
