22-year-old Milwaukee man charged in pursuit, crash that injured 2 officers
Jwan Ware-Watt
MILWAUKEE -- A 22-year-old Milwaukee man is charged in connection with a police pursuit that resulted in a crash into a police squad near N. 70th Street and W. Hampton Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 29. The accused is Jwan Ware-Watt.
Ware-Watt faces the following criminal counts:
According to the criminal complaint, a Milwaukee police officer on patrol saw a pickup truck with Minnesota plates that did not have its tail lights illuminated. The officer turned around and the pickup truck "was accelerating at a very high rate of speed." That is when the officer turned on the squad's lights and sirens to conduct a traffic stop. The officer noted the truck "disregarded the stop sign almost causing an accident with multiple vehicles." The complaint says the driver of the pickup truck "displayed an utter disregard for human life and the Dodge Ram failed to yield to (the officer's) red and blue emergency lights." A pursuit was initiated.
2 officers injured following pursuit, crash near 70th and Hampton
The complaint says at one point during the pursuit, the truck entered the parking lot for Dineen Park. The officer stopped his squad at the mouth of the entrance to the lot. That is when the truck "drove in a circle around the lot and then accelerated quickly towards the front of (the officer's) squad car." The officer pulled his squad forward to avoid being hit by the truck.
A short time later, another marked squad activated its lights to the area of the vehicle pursuit -- when the truck "disregarded a stop sign and struck (the squad) in a T-bone fashion on the passenger side." Ware-Watt was taken into custody at the scene of the crash.
Two officers were injured in the wreck. One suffered shoulder, chest and neck pain. The second officer suffered pain to his hip and a knee.
The complaint notes the pursuit of the pickup truck "lasted 4.3 miles and the Dodge Ram reached an estimated speed of 50 mph in an area with a 25 mph speed limit."
2 officers injured following pursuit, crash near 70th and Hampton
When Ware-Watt was removed from the back of the squad, officers found "a clear plastic knotted sandwich bag containing an off white or tan powdery substance." Officers suspected the substance was heroin.
Collision involving MPD squad at 70th and Hampton, Milwaukee
When police did a thorough search of the pickup truck, They "found a loose off white or tan chunk of suspected heroin and a black digital scale. On the scale plate, (the officer) observed a white substance which he suspected to be heroin residue." A field test of the substance later showed the white substance was "positive for the presence of opiates, the active ingredient in heroin. The total weight of the heroin recovered was 5.71 grams."
Ware-Watt made his initial appearance in court on Sunday, Feb. 2. Cash bond was set at $500. Ware-Watt is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 13.