A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper was seriously injured during an interstate pursuit, but investigators had not determined whether the fleeing car struck him. Minneapolis resident Martell Tolbert Mitchell has been charged in connection with the chase; the charges are allegations, not findings of guilt.
The WQOW report says the pursuit began after Illinois authorities alerted Wisconsin officials to a car that had left a traffic stop in Boone County. A Wisconsin trooper later saw the car traveling 76 mph in a 60-mph construction zone on I-94 in Eau Claire County. The car reached 100 mph, while the pursuing cruiser reached 125 mph, the report says.
What the charges require
The Wisconsin State Law Library’s guide to statutory elements says prosecutors must prove, among other things, that a driver knowingly fled or tried to elude an officer after receiving a signal to stop. Mitchell faces a charge of attempting to flee an officer, along with reckless endangerment and possession with intent to deliver cocaine and THC. The legal standard describes what prosecutors must establish; it does not determine the outcome of this case.
According to WQOW, troopers deployed spike strips on the I-94 bridge over 490th Avenue in Dunn County. The car hit the strips and later stopped in a ditch. Troopers then found Brad Ritger below the bridge. Responders used a re-breather bag and performed CPR before he was found breathing and with a pulse; he was taken to a hospital with severe injuries. The report says investigators did not know whether the car hit him.
A wider data gap, not a Wisconsin trend
The case also sits within a broader challenge in measuring the consequences of police pursuits. A San Francisco Chronicle investigation identified 662 additional deaths involving police chases that were absent from NHTSA’s fatal-pursuit data for 2017 through 2021. That national finding does not establish a trend in Wisconsin, say how often pursuits there cause injuries, or explain what happened to Ritger.
WQOW reports that a search of Mitchell’s car found bags of marijuana, packaging materials and a digital scale, and that Mitchell told authorities she had cocaine hidden in her underwear. Her cash bond was set at $70,000, and the report said she was scheduled for a preliminary hearing the following week.
