Hearing for teen charged in high-speed chase delayed

MILWAUKEE -- 17-year-old Dvarion Beamon, one of four teens charged for allegedly leading police on a four-county high-speed chase was due in court Tuesday, May 22nd for his preliminary hearing. However, that hearing was delayed because Beamon is being held in Waukesha County Jail on an unrelated charge.

Beamon will instead appear in Milwaukee County Court for his preliminary hearing next week.

Beamon is facing two felony counts -- including fleeing from an officer and stealing a vehicle. Beamon was the driver of the white minivan stolen from a daycare.

Beamon is accused of taking police through a four-county high-speed chase that ended in Kenosha County at I-94 and County Hwy. C.

Three other teens have also been charged. They include Jarmel Gatewood, Darrell Thompson and Fred Gillespie, who are charged with misdemeanors for knowingly riding in a stolen vehicle.

Dvarion Beamon

According to the criminal complaint, Kelly Nichols from ABC Daycare told police the 2002 white Chrysler Town and Country minivan used in the high-speed chase was stolen from her business the day before Beamon led police on the multi-county chase.

Beamon told police in the complaint, “Vans are easy to steal,” going on to say he used a hammer and screwdriver to peel away the steering column.

Milwaukee Police Officer Greg Geniesse responded to a report from an off-duty MPD officer that Beamon and his friends were trying to force their way into a home. The criminal complaint says Officer Geniesse caught up with the teens near 60th and Center. The teens then led Milwaukee police on a high-speed chase for about 17 minutes. Police officers ended the chase for safety reasons.

Menomonee Falls police later spotted the stolen daycare van leaving a gas station, and resumed the high-speed chase that eventually ended in Kenosha County on I-94 at County Hwy. C.

Shortly after the van’s tire was deflated by law enforcement, Beamon and his friends surrendered. A 16-year-old named Shawn was also found in the van, but hasn’t been charged. Thompson and Gillespie both admitted to knowing the car was stolen before riding with Beamon. Gatewood admitted nothing to police.

Thompson spoke with FOX6 News Monday, May 14th – the day charges were filed. Thompson says he wishes things would have turned out differently, and that he didn’t have to face court. He said he wasn’t sure how fast the van was going during the chase.

“We weren’t doing nothing. We weren’t trying to commit no burglaries or none of that. You see some black guys in a neighborhood, you’re gonna call police. That seems kind of racist to me. We was actually lost, looking for directions so I can go to school. Thankfully, nobody got hurt,” Thompson said.

Beamon is the only teen facing felony counts. Beamon is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for his preliminary hearing.

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