A Milwaukee police officer was beaten with his own firearm magazine during a violent struggle that followed a reckless driving pursuit Wednesday afternoon, leaving the 32-year-old officer with serious, non-fatal injuries. The chase began around 1:47 p.m. near West Hadley Street and North 58th Street and ended roughly ten blocks away when the suspect vehicle slammed into a tree near 48th and Hadley.
Officers initially tried to pull the driver over for reckless driving, but the driver refused to stop, prompting police to launch a pursuit, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. After the crash, both occupants of the vehicle ran from the scene on foot. As officers chased the 22-year-old driver down, he pulled a firearm magazine from a pouch on the responding officer's tactical vest and struck the officer with it several times, inflicting the injuries that ultimately sent him to the hospital, per CBS 58.
Additional officers arrived and helped take the driver into custody. The report notes the injured officer has more than four years of service with the department; he was treated at a local hospital and later released to recover at home. A 19-year-old man who had been riding as a passenger in the vehicle was also arrested following a brief foot pursuit of his own.
Guns and Drugs Found in the Crashed Vehicle
Investigators recovered multiple firearms and suspected narcotics from the suspect vehicle after the crash, the station's report states. Criminal charges have not yet been filed and will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office for review. Under Wisconsin Statute § 941.21, disarming or attempting to disarm a peace officer of a weapon or equipment carried on their vest without consent is a Class H felony punishable by up to six years in prison and fines as high as $10,000, according to Grieve Law. Separately, Wisconsin Statute § 940.203(2) classifies intentionally causing bodily harm to a law enforcement officer acting in an official capacity as its own Class H felony, carrying up to six years split between initial confinement and extended supervision, per the Wisconsin State Law Library.
A Department Already Under Scrutiny Over Pursuits
Wednesday's incident lands amid an ongoing overhaul of how Milwaukee police handle chases. Police Chief Jeffery Norman updated foot pursuit guidelines in April, barring officers from chasing someone solely because they fled and requiring reasonable, articulable suspicion that a crime occurred, according to Police1. That followed a February revision to the department's vehicle pursuit rules, Standard Operating Procedure 660, after nine pursuit-related fatalities were recorded citywide in 2025 — six of them involving uninvolved third parties, FOX6 News Milwaukee has reported.
The tighter rules appear to be having an effect on raw numbers. Department data for the first half of 2026 showed a 24% drop in total vehicle pursuits compared with the same period last year, even as drug-related pursuits climbed 25%, according to WTMJ. A Fire and Police Commission annual report presented in May had shown MPD officers engaged in 970 vehicle pursuits in 2025, with nearly a third ending in crashes and 70% reaching speeds over 75 mph — up from 957 chases the year before.
Officer Assaults Remain a Persistent Concern
Mid-year figures also showed 364 body-force incidents by MPD officers through June 30, with 93% of subject injuries classified as minor and zero pursuit-related fatalities during that stretch, per WTMJ's reporting. Wednesday's attack echoes a case from last month, when a 21-year-old was charged with assaulting an officer during a hospital clearance visit following an arrest in the Deer District, a case Hoodline previously covered; that officer was also treated and released. Milwaukee police provided the details of Wednesday's pursuit and struggle to FOX6, and the case now heads to prosecutors as the department continues weighing capture against officer and public safety under its revised pursuit policies.
