A news crew in Wisconsin captured a shocking moment when a reckless driver crashed into a parked minivan and left his teenage accomplice behind, injuring a man who was inside the vehicle.
TMJ4, a local media outlet in Milwaukee, was covering a fatal shooting in the city’s south side when a speeding gray sedan veered into the parked minivan to avoid oncoming traffic, as shown in a video.
The driver, whose age was not disclosed, quickly fled the scene, leaving his passenger to crawl out of the damaged vehicle.
The passenger asked the news crew and witnesses to call 911 before a bystander came to his aid.
The impact of the crash pushed the minivan into an unmarked Milwaukee Police squad car that was parked behind it, according to police.
After checking on his friend, the driver, with his face covered by a hooded sweatshirt, fled the scene. The car had been recently stolen at the time of the crash.
A 57-year-old man who was in the minivan was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The teenage passenger in the stolen car, a 16-year-old boy, was also hospitalized and later arrested by police. The driver is currently at large.
Mariam Mackar, a witness to the shooting being interviewed by WTMJ at the time of the hit-and-run, expressed shock at the incident, stating she had never seen anything like it before.
“That car could’ve killed somebody. It ran onto the grass, there were children on the grass,” she said.
Data from 16 community meetings, as detailed in a report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, highlights car theft as a significant recurring issue in Milwaukee.
The report notes that concerns about violent crime, including firearms, car thefts, and reckless driving, were top priorities for session attendees.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson emphasized the importance of addressing car theft and reckless driving within the community to prevent such incidents from occurring.
“The passenger in that video that you just showed me, he couldn’t even get up, he couldn’t even move,” said Mayor Johnson. “Let’s have these conversations and put a stop to this before it’s too late.”
