Woman set on fire; Milwaukee man sentenced, 12 months
Antoine Fitzpatrick
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Antoine Fitzpatrick on Friday, Feb. 2 to one year in the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center in connection with setting a woman on fire near 5th and Hadley in July 2023.
Back in January before Fitzpatrick went on trial, the state's citizen witnesses did not show up for court. The state was unable to proceed with its prosecution at that point. Fitzpatrick's defense motioned to dismiss two counts against their client – first-degree reckless injury and possession of methamphetamine. The court granted that motion.
In his jury trial, Fitzpatrick was found guilty of vehicle operator flee/elude officer charge.
Case details
According to the criminal complaint, officers were dispatched to St. Mary's Hospital on July 6 in response to a woman telling medical staff that her boyfriend set her on fire after dumping rubbing alcohol on her. A detective learned the victim was in critical condition due to smoke inhalation and second-degree burns on her upper body, face, and legs. When a nurse asked the victim how this happened, the victim said, "My boyfriend doused me with rubbing alcohol and set me on fire," the complaint says.
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Police reviewed surveillance video at the hospital which showed the victim being dropped off by a person driving a light blue car with tinted windows. The driver of the car never exits the vehicle.
The complaint says officers went to the apartment where the incident allegedly took place and forced entry. Officers interviewed one of the neighbors who lived in the apartment complex. The neighbor said he woke up around 7 a.m. to the sound of a fight going on inside an apartment. The neighbor said "Antoine" lives in the apartment and believes he has been there for a year. He knows a woman moved in there three months ago. The neighbor said, "that the fight lasted about twenty minutes, then there was a very short period of silence, and then he heard the sound of the smoke detector coming from Apartment 310 and could smell smoke," the complaint says. The neighbor said described the defendant's vehicle for police – indicating it was a blue car.
The complaint said officers were patrolling near 76th and Congress when they saw a vehicle matching the defendant's car. Officers tried to pull the vehicle over near 76th and Appleton, but the driver sped up. The vehicle fled from police until it came to a stop near 76th and Congress.
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The driver was identified as Fitzpatrick. Officers searched the car and found cocaine and methamphetamine in the car. Fitzpatrick was taken into custody.