Milwaukee reckless driving repeat offenders; new effort launched
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee city leaders announced on Tuesday, Oct. 1 a new, concerted effort to "hold reckless drivers fully answerable for their most egregious traffic violations." Their target – repeat offenders.
Officials including the Milwaukee City Attorney, Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, and city elected officials held a news conference. They say they are taking reckless driving to the state level. That means harsher punishments for those repeat offenders.
"Effective today, we will no longer amend or dismiss reckless driving citations," said Evan Goyke, Milwaukee City Attorney.
Milwaukee City Attorney Evan Goyke
City leaders say a reckless driver repeat offender could now be criminally charged on a second offense. That means those drivers could face a year in jail.
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"Those who do not take the hint that a citation is a warning now you’re entering to a criminal situation," said Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman.
Milwaukee police statistics show 3,285 speeding citations were issued so far in 2024. In 2023, that number was 4,929.
"As we see all these efforts put forth in our community, enhancing the engineering in regards to the streets, we’re seeing reductions in the fatalities, we’re seeing reductions in crashes," Norman said.
But it is not stopping the reckless driving entirely, because there are still first-time offenders.
On Monday, charges were filed against Dreymar Burks and Everett Hawpetoss. Prosecutors say the 19-year-olds were in a stolen Jeep and took off when police tried to pull them over on Lisbon Avenue. That started a chase, where prosecutors say the driver sped to 100 miles per hour, ran several lights and then crashed five miles away. Investigators say the Jeep was stolen in an armed robbery days prior.
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Goyke said this comes after Wisconsin Act 9 was amended in 2023. The bill had a four-year window to look back at a driver's record. But that was eliminated, making it easier to prosecute repeat reckless drivers.
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Goyke said this comes after Wisconsin Act 9 was amended in 2023. The bill had a four-year window to look back at a driver's record. But that was eliminated, making it easier to prosecute repeat reckless drivers.
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