Milwaukee crash kills teen, driver pleads guilty to reckless homicide
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man pleaded guilty to reckless homicide on Thursday for a crash that killed a 17-year-old girl and injured five people – himself included.
Court records show 24-year-old Martinez Williams reached a deal with prosecutors, and three additional felonies were dismissed. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
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Prosecutors said Williams was knowingly driving on a suspended license when he slammed into a tree near 5th and Keefe. The car was split in half as a result of the crash, which happened shortly after 5 a.m. on June 30, 2023.
Zariyah Williams, 17, died at the scene. Williams and four passengers – a 23-year-old Milwaukee man, an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman, and two 16-year-old Milwaukee girls – were hurt.
5th and Keefe crash, Milwaukee
A criminal complaint states a victim told police Williams was driving the car when he began "cocking" and "whipping" it. The woman and girls in the car "yelled at him to stop," that victim said, but he didn't.
The car's tires left skid marks as it left the roadway, one that measured 264 feet, the complaint states. Home surveillance video showed the car come into the frame speeding, spinning and sliding before it hit a tree and then the railing of the home. The 17-year-old girl was ejected.
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Prosecutors said Williams was seen on video running away with another person, only to come back, but he never checked on the 17-year-old – saying to another passenger, "She's dead" as he walked away.
Per the complaint, Williams returned to the crash scene with his mother and said he was the driver, and the car was registered in his name.
Milwaukee fatal crash, 5th and Keefe, driver strikes tree
At the time he was charged, Williams had at least 17 traffic-related convictions that go back to at least 2018 in multiple counties as well as Milwaukee Municipal Court. He was cited and found guilty six times for operating while suspended in the 12 months preceding the crash, prosecutors said – most recently just two weeks before the crash. For that reason, authorities believed he "must have known that his operating privilege was suspended on the date of the crash." He'd also been cited and found guilty of speeding in excess of 20 mph over the speed limit three times over the previous 15 months.