Taylor Arms sentenced to 3 years in prison, convicted in crash that killed April Stegall

MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Taylor Arms on Thursday, Dec. 19 to three years in prison and another five years of extended supervision. This, after reaching a plea deal in connection with a fatal crash that happened at 67th and Marion in October 2018.

Taylor Arms



Arms pleaded no contest this October to a charge of operator flee/elude officer, causing death.

Prosecutors said she was attempting to flee police when the vehicle she was driving, without a valid license, struck a tree.

A 21-year-old woman died in the crash — and a 2-year-old child was hospitalized with serious injuries.

According to the criminal complaint, officers were traveling eastbound on W. Capitol Drive when they observed a silver Mercedes without registration/plates and with tinted windows.

Fatal crash near 67th and Marion



Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver, later identified as Arms, refused to pull over. When the car would not stop, the police did not pursue it.

The complaint indicated Arms disregarded a stop sign at the intersection of 72nd and Fiebrantz and continued northbound on N. 72nd Street. The Mercedes then turned right, traveling east onto Marion Street. Once the squad car turned right, the Mercedes was about two blocks ahead of the squad car.

Fatal crash near 67th and Marion



At that time, the complaint indicated the officer pulled the squad car to the side of the road and turned off the emergency lights and sirens. As the officer was doing this, he saw the driver lose control of the Mercedes and crash near 67th and Marion.

Crash near 67th and Marion in Milwaukee



Upon seeing the crash, the officer turned on the squad’s lights and siren and drove to the scene of the accident. Upon arrival, the officers saw the Mercedes had hit a tree and that the front of the Mercedes was on fire.

According to the criminal complaint, the officer tried to open the driver’s door of the Mercedes, but it was locked. The officer then broke the driver’s side window, unlocked the door, and removed the driver, identified as Arms. The officer then saw that there was a child in the back of the car. As he attempted to remove the child, he saw that there was a woman, who had been in the front passenger’s seat, on the ground with her legs inside the car.

The child was transported to Children’s Hospital and it was determined that the child was suffering from a broken femur and a bruised lung.

The 21-year-old passenger, identified as April Stegall, was killed despite police not giving up on CPR.

April Stegall



Driving records maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation showed that on Oct. 26, 2018, Arms did not have a valid driver’s license. Those records showed that on Aug. 24, 2018, her operating privileges had been suspended for one year for failure to pay a $178 ticket for speeding.