2 teens arrested in rash of Bay View vehicle break-ins after chase, crash

BAY VIEW -- Police said Tuesday, Jan. 30 a rash of early-morning car break-ins in Bay View led to a chase and crash that ended with two arrests.

A 17-year-old and 18-year-old, believed to be connected to several vehicle break-ins, were arrested after the crash that happened near 15th and Mitchell.

"The first call was at 6:45 a.m.," said Tom Almaghrabi, Safe Auto Glass. "Driver window broken. It's got the front passenger broken."

Milwaukee police said around 5 a.m., vandals broke into cars in the area of South Austin and Dover St.

"It was smashed at the Post Office," said John Casper.

Casper said his wife's car was hit while she was at work. By Tuesday afternoon, it was clear the vandals caused thousands of dollars of damage just in broken windows, and it wasn't just the cost of repairing the glass, as Casper pointed out. Their time was stolen as well.

Unlike other vandalism in recent memory, police were able to locate a suspect vehicle and gave chase. The car crashed near 15th and Mitchell, where police arrested the two suspects.

Tom Almaghrabi

Almaghrabi said it can be hard to prevent random acts of vandalism, but you can better your odds by keeping a clean car.

"You are a giving a chance for thieves to break into your car," said Almaghrabi.

No charges have been filed yet, and we're still waiting on the exact number of cars that were damaged. Safe Auto Glass on South 27th had replaced glass in at least seven cars from the same Bay View neighborhood Tuesday.