A Milwaukee man who dragged a police officer along for a high-speed, near-90-mph ride through the city's north side has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison. Keawne Daniels, 27, pleaded guilty to three felonies connected to the January incident, which ended when the car he was driving crashed into a tree with the officer still trapped inside.
Milwaukee County Judge Katie Kegel handed down the sentence, which also includes four years of extended supervision, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. Daniels was also sentenced to time served at the Milwaukee County Community Reintegration Center specifically for the fleeing charge. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dismissed a false-imprisonment charge that had been among the four felonies originally filed against him.
A Hotel Call That Turned Into a Chase
The case began when Milwaukee police responded to the Comfort Suites near 118th and Silver Spring in January after a caller reported that Daniels had taken property from her, per the criminal complaint cited in the station's report. Location data had alerted the caller that her property was in the hotel parking lot, and she asked Daniels to come outside to meet her. Daniels reportedly had two outstanding warrants for his arrest at the time, and the complaint notes he was missing footwear despite extremely frigid temperatures.
When an officer approached, he positioned himself behind an open rear car door and drew his service weapon, the complaint states. The officer ordered Daniels not to put the car in drive, but Daniels instead accelerated in reverse in an attempt to flee, forcing the officer to jump into the open rear passenger seat to avoid being struck.
Trapped at Nearly 90 MPH
With the officer now inside the moving vehicle, Daniels sped east on W. Silver Spring Drive at nearly 90 mph, losing control and mounting the curb several times, according to the same account. The officer kept his weapon aimed at Daniels from the backseat before putting it away in an effort to persuade him to stop. Per the complaint, the officer could not exit the vehicle because of its speed and reckless driving, and child locks prevented him from getting out on his own.
Daniels eventually abandoned the still-moving car near 92nd and Birch while it was traveling about 35 mph. The vehicle went up a curb, into a front yard, and crashed into a tree with the officer still trapped in the backseat. Other officers were able to quickly find Daniels after he fled on foot.
Guilty Plea and Statutory Backdrop
Daniels ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree recklessly endangering safety, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, and fleeing an officer. Under Wisconsin law, recklessly endangering another person's safety under circumstances showing utter disregard for human life is classified as a Class F felony at the second-degree level.
Wisconsin's fleeing-or-eluding statute, meanwhile, can be satisfied through conduct like increasing a vehicle's speed or willfully disregarding an officer's signal in a way that endangers the officer or others, according to state statute. Separate provisions clarify that prosecutors do not need to show the fleeing vehicle actually struck or endangered an identifiable person — only that the driving created a risk or likelihood of that happening, as outlined in another section of the state's vehicle code.
