Sheriff's Deputy, a Tosa Resident, Arrested for Hit and Run

A Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy by Wauwatosa police is a Tosa resident who fled from the scene of an accident 10 hours earlier that was another driver's fault.

The accident occurred as the deputy was driving home late after attending the Milwaukee Brewers game Saturday afternoon.

According to the police report:

A few minutes before midnight Saturday, the deputy was driving north on 68th Street and approaching Blue Mound Road with a green light giving him the right of way. A Greenfield woman driving west on Blue Mound failed to notice the red light and ran into the deputy's car.

Both vehicles careened over the curb and onto the northwest corner of the intersection.

The accident was witnessed by a Wisconsin State Patrol officer who was stationed west of 68th Street on Crescent Court, watching the home of Gov. Scott Walker and by an off-duty Milwaukee police officer who was driving behind the Greenfield woman.

The Milwaukee officer saw the driver of the car that had been hit get out and begin walking away on Crescent Drive. He told Tosa officers that when the state trooper drove up to the accident scene, the man begin running.

Wauwatosa police arrived to find the Greenfield woman with a minor injury to her wrist and the driver of the other car nowhere to be seen. Patrols of the area did not locate him, but he was identified through his vehicle registration and Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office documents in the car.

Police, unable to locate a phone number for the deputy went to the deputy's home in the 6800 block of St. James Street, where he lives with his fiance, and left a card with the accident number.

Shortly after 3 a.m., the deputy's fiance called the officer's number to say that she was worried that he hadn't come home yet. She said she would have him call if he arrived.

At about 4:30 a.m., the deputy did call the police station and said he had been involved in an accident at 68th and Blue Mound. But he told police he did not remember anything about the accident except waking up several hours later on the lawn of a home near Walker's residence, missing his car, keys and cell phone.

He said that he was still disoriented but managed to follow street signs home, where he arrived around 3:15 a.m. When asked why he fled from the scene, he said he did not remember anything about the crash or its aftermath. He told officers his head hurt but he declined any medical assistance.

The deputy was ordered to appear at the police station, and he agreed to come in at 10 a.m. Sunday. He did so, and was processed for booking without making a statement.

The deputy was ordered to appear at the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office at 1 p.m. Thursday. The report said that Wauwatosa police would seek a charge of failing to do duty upon striking an attended vehicle, causing injury.

Among the oddities of the case were phone calls taken by a police clerk during the night. The clerk told investigating officers that she had received a call from a man about 15 minutes before the accident occurred, asking by name whether the deputy had been in an accident.

About 20 minutes after the accident, a female caller made the same inquiry and was told that indeed his car had been in a crash but he hadn't been located.