MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is acknowledging one of its deputies made a mistake by issuing the wrong citation that allowed a driver who’s been caught 35 times for operating on a suspended license to drive away after the traffic stop.
TMJ4’s Lighthouse investigative team has learned the same suspended driver was pulled over one day earlier at the beginning of May — and it resulted in the same outcome. Dash camera video from UW-Milwaukee Police Department shows Julian Lopez of Milwaukee was allowed to drive away after receiving two tickets.
Lopez was caught by UW-Milwaukee Police back on May 2 running a red light. He was issued a pair of traffic tickets and sent on his way.
Less than 24 hours later, Lopez was pulled over by a Milwaukee County Sheriff’s deputy for high speeds on National Ave.
The deputy and the officer both knew Lopez shouldn’t have been behind the wheel. The officer wrote him a ticket for operating on a suspended license. The deputy cited Lopez with operating without a valid license.
On back-to-back days, Lopez was allowed to drive away right in front of the squads.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office Inspector Doug Holton says that’s not what’s supposed to happen.
“Our own policy, we do not allow that to happen. We’re not going to stop someone, write them for operating after suspension and then allow them to drive off,” he said.
Inspector Holton said MCSO is ‘still reviewing’ whether the deputy violated department policy.
However, Inspector Holton says MCSO has already determined that if the deputy had given Lopez the right citation, he would have been towed and arrested.
“We did determine that he had a prior operating without a license from about two years ago,” Holton said. “In that event, he should have been taken into custody. And should have been issued an operating without a license, second and subsequent. That was our procedural error on our behalf. We are working to fix that error.”
A second or subsequent operating without a valid license violation is a crime in Wisconsin that can result in a low-level misdemeanor. But, charges can only be issued for that offense if the driver has never had a license in the past. In this case, MCSO says it determined Lopez has never had a valid driver’s license.
Retired Milwaukee Police patrol officer Steve Krejci says law enforcement agencies are allowed to make their own policies on what to do with a suspended driver’s car after a traffic stop — and they vary.
Back in February, TMJ4’s Lighthouse investigative team exposed how Lopez keeps getting caught behind the wheel despite not paying $5,000 in Milwaukee municipal traffic tickets alone. Court records show the most common ticket he’s received is for operating while suspended.
“Do you think drivers should be able to take off after a traffic stop if they are suspended?” Investigative Reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"No, they shouldn’t,” Krejci said. "Most agencies just write the citation, make them get a ride or tell them that they have to get a ride, but absolutely, they’re not allowed to just let them drive away."
Lopez didn’t show up to two previously scheduled interviews with TMJ4. He didn’t respond to Jordan’s latest interview request despite several attempts.
TMJ4 reached out to UW-Milwaukee Police to ask whether their officer followed department policy by allowing Lopez to drive away after a traffic stop. We have yet to get a response.
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