Milwaukee crash, man killed; driver gets 18 months in prison
Dejaun Johnson
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fatal crash at Sherman and Villard that took the life of Damarius McCray on Jan. 17.
Dejaun Johnson, 19, pleaded guilty to knowingly operating without a valid license, causing death. In addition to prison time, Baker was sentenced to 18 months of extended supervision.
According to the criminal complaint, a Milwaukee police officer was walking toward his squad near Sherman Boulevard and Villard Avenue when he witnessed a two-car collision. This happened around 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17. A black SUV traveling east on Villard collided in the intersection with a silver car traveling south on Sherman.
The complaint says the officer first ran to the SUV. "Four young men had just exited the Jeep and stood beside it. One of the men was the defendant, whose face was visible on the body camera footage," the complaint says. The officer asked the young men if anyone was hurt, but none responded.
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Crash near Sherman and Villard, Milwaukee
The officer then turned his attention to the silver car, where another officer was already attending to the driver. At that point, the first officer "turned back to the Jeep and saw that three of the four young men were now up the street, moving away. The officer shouted for them to stop and get back, but they kept going and eventually disappeared from his view," the complaint says. The officer managed to stop one of the four men, "who said nothing when asked to identify the driver of the Jeep," the complaint says.
The injured driver in the silver car, later identified as 18-year-old Damarius McCray, was taken to a hospital -- but later died from his injuries. FOX6 News learned McCray had just bought a car and was leaving the DMV after registering it when the collision happened.
Crash near Sherman and Villard, Milwaukee
The complaint says while officers were on the scene, "the owner of the Jeep arrived and told officers that her son, the defendant, had been driving the Jeep. She said that she was trying to convince him to return to the scene. He did eventually return" about an hour-and-a-half after the collision. He admitted being the driver of the Jeep, the complaint says.
In a statement to a detective, the defendant said, "he was driving his brothers to school when the other car ran a red light, and the two vehicles collided in the intersection. He admitted that he did not have a driver's license and never had one."