Meritorious Award: New Berlin officer honored for work capturing wanted felon after pursuit, crash

NEW BERLIN (WITI) -- On Saturday, April 25th New Berlin Police Officer Joshua Ledzian was one of several area officers to receive a Meritorious Award presented by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association for his work in capturing a wanted felon after a vehicle pursuit and crash on December 29th, 2014.

Joshua Ledzian

Ledzian was on patrol just after 1:00 a.m. on December 29th near Greenfield Avenue and 124th Street when he observed a vehicle westbound on Greenfield enter Waukesha County at over 100 m.p.h.  The driver did not stop for Ledzian, and instead, increased his speed to 115 m.p.h. as he continued westbound.  The driver turned around before Moorland Road and headed back east on Greenfield.  The driver lost control near Elm Grove Road and the vehicle flipped onto its roof and struck several trees, before starting on fire.

Ledzian and officers from West Allis PD and Brookfield PD were able to lift the car off of the trapped driver and pull him to safety.  The driver, a 20-year-old Milwaukee man, was arrested and charged with eluding an officer, operating without a license and possession of cocaine.  He was also wanted for questioning in West Allis for his role in an attempted armed carjacking where shots were fired into the victim’s vehicle.  This had occurred a couple hours prior to the pursuit.

Officer Jacob Olynick from Brookfield PD and Sergeant Clinton Corwin and Officers Lucas Binter and Randy Kwasinski from West Allis PD were also issued awards for meritorious performance of their duties during this arrest.