Brady Street crash, Milwaukee woman charged with reckless homicide
Brady and Humboldt crash, Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee woman is charged with five felonies, including reckless homicide, after prosecutors say she caused a fatal crash while fleeing police Tuesday night on the city's Lower East Side.
Brady Street crash
The backstory:
Court filings said officers were on patrol when they tried to stop a car for speeding near Teutonia and North. The driver, now identified in a criminal complaint as 22-year-old Cera Wilkerson, took off.
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The chase headed north on Teutonia to Center Street, where the complaint said Wilkerson turned and fled east toward King Drive – where she almost hit a pedestrian who was in the crosswalk. She eventually turned south onto Humboldt Boulevard, where Center Street ends.
Brady and Humboldt crash, Milwaukee
Prosecutors said the chase continued down Humboldt until Wilkerson ran a red light and Brady Street, slamming into the driver's side of a car in the intersection. The chase stretched just over three miles.
The 28-year-old driver of that car died while en route to a hospital. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office identified the driver as El Moctar Sidiya. Court filings said a passenger in the car was taken to a hospital with serious injuries – including several fractured ribs and a collapsed lung – but is expected to survive.
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Dig deeper:
Officers estimated Wilkerson reached speeds "upwards of 88 mph" in a 25 mph residential area during the chase while running red lights and driving into oncoming traffic, per the complaint.
Court filings said data from the airbag control module of Wilkerson's car determined she was driving 62 mph, applying 73% of the throttle, at the last data point before the airbags went off. At no point in the five seconds before impact did she apply the brakes.
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In Custody
What they're saying:
Police arrested Wilkerson, and she, too, was taken to a hospital for treatment.
In a statement to police, the complaint said Wilkerson admitted she saw the police lights and thought she was getting pulled over for running a red light. She said she has "bad anxiety and a bad history with police" and does not remember what happened until she crashed.
Wilkerson is charged with five felonies:
- Fleeing police (resulting in death)
- Fleeing police (resulting in great bodily harm)
- Second-degree reckless homicide
- Second-degree reckless injury
- Second-degree recklessly endangering safety
The Source: FOX6 News referenced information from the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.