A Milwaukee police squad car crashed into an uninvolved SUV near Sherman and Custer just after noon on Wednesday, injuring a 23-year-old passenger during a chase that began when officers spotted a vehicle driving recklessly near 36th and Stark. The suspect vehicle kept going after the crash, leaving the squad's collision with the SUV as the only reported injury from the incident.
According to the Milwaukee Police Department, officers first saw the vehicle driving recklessly near 36th and Stark and attempted to stop it, but the driver failed to pull over. What followed was a pursuit that ended blocks away when the squad crashed into the SUV, an uninvolved vehicle that had no connection to the chase. The SUV passenger was taken to a hospital for treatment of non-fatal injuries; police say no one else was hurt in the crash.
FOX6 crews arrived at the scene as it was clearing, and the department later sent crash details to the outlet for its report. The suspect vehicle was gone by the time officers turned their attention to the wreck, and it remains unclear whether the driver has since been located.
A Department Under Scrutiny Over Pursuit Policy
Wednesday's crash lands amid mounting concern over how often Milwaukee police pursuits end in collisions. Milwaukee Police Department recorded 970 vehicle pursuits in 2025, up from 957 the year before, with 321 of those chases ending in crashes and nine resulting in deaths, including six innocent third parties, according to a Fire and Police Commission annual report cited by the Wisconsin Justice Initiative. No police chase fatalities were reported in Milwaukee in 2024, making the jump to nine deaths in 2025 especially stark.
The same Fire and Police Commission data showed reckless driving was the primary trigger for 76% of all Milwaukee pursuits in 2025, up from 62% the year before, with 70% of last year's chases involving police speeds exceeding 75 mph. That matches the pattern in Wednesday's incident, which began after officers observed a vehicle driving recklessly before the chase and crash unfolded.
What The Department's Own Rules Require
In February, MPD updated Standard Operating Procedure 660 to clarify that reckless speed alone is not enough to justify a pursuit unless the vehicle is also colliding with objects, forcing evasive action, or blowing through controlled intersections without slowing, per the Wisconsin Justice Initiative's reporting on the policy. Whether Wednesday's pursuit met that updated threshold, and whether the squad's emergency lights and sirens were active as required, has not been addressed by police.
Wisconsin law offers only conditional protection to officers in pursuit. Under Wisconsin Statute § 346.03, emergency vehicle operators are permitted to exceed speed limits and proceed past traffic signals while chasing suspected violators, but they remain legally bound to operate with due regard for the safety of all persons. State law does not shield officers from consequences if they act with reckless disregard for public safety, meaning the squad driver's actions in Wednesday's crash could still draw scrutiny.
It remains an open question whether the pursuing officers complied with the SOP 660 update or whether any internal or external review will examine the squad driver's conduct in this crash. MPD has not indicated whether such a review is underway.
History Of Tightening And Loosening The Rules
Milwaukee's pursuit policy has swung sharply over the past 15 years. After high-profile third-party injuries in 2010, MPD adopted strict pursuit restrictions that pushed chases down to a low of 50 in 2012, but the department relaxed the policy in 2017 to combat rising reckless driving, and chases jumped from 369 that year to 940 in 2018, according to the Wisconsin Justice Initiative. A Fire and Police Commission audit released in November 2024 found that more than 98% of audited chase initiations complied with SOP 660, though nearly 15% of the 1,081 pursuits recorded in 2023 still ended in crashes, per CBS 58. That same audit found officers or supervisors terminated 58% of audited pursuits before they were completed.
State lawmakers have leaned toward harsher penalties for fleeing drivers rather than looser pursuit rules for police. Wisconsin Act 226, effective in March 2024, raised the stakes for suspects who flee or elude officers, making eluding that causes bodily harm a Class G felony and eluding causing great bodily harm a Class E felony carrying a mandatory minimum 1.5-year prison sentence, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Council. Separately, 2023 Wisconsin Act 9 doubled baseline fines for reckless driving to between $50 and $400 for a first offense and increased penalties for reckless driving causing bodily harm to up to two years in jail and $4,000 in fines.
Milwaukee has also leaned on tools short of high-speed chases. Under state legislation enacted in late 2025, municipalities gained expanded authority to impound vehicles involved in reckless driving on a first offense, even when the driver is not the registered owner, as reported by FOX6 Milwaukee. The city's Traffic Safety Unit, created in 2021, issued 13,488 citations in 2022 alone and runs an online portal where residents can flag high-risk driving locations for targeted enforcement.
Wednesday's crash is at least the latest in a string of Milwaukee-area pursuits that have ended in collisions this year. In one earlier South Side case, a driver who crashed into an MPD squad during a 2024 pursuit was later sentenced to 12 years in prison after officers found a gun and drugs in his vehicle.
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