MILWAUKEE — A newly released report shows Milwaukee police pursuits decreased last year, but the number of people injured in those chases increased.
"By one person being chased, it's putting the whole world in danger,” said Sania Ferguson.
Ferguson knows those dangers firsthand.
"The police were going 90 m.p.h. and they hit me,” she said.
Ferguson was t-boned by a Milwaukee police squad chasing a fleeing driver who was wanted for a robbery last fall near Sherman and North Ave.
“I just know I was on the ground and I woke up and the police was over me saying that this is not my fault,” Ferguson said.
The aftermath left Ferguson with a totaled car and a traumatic brain injury.
The officer who hit her was also seriously injured as the driver being chased got away.
New Milwaukee police pursuit data shows Sania and the officer were two of more than 240 people hurt last year in Milwaukee police chases after police pursued 957 fleeing drivers.
"I feel like if you can’t catch the vehicle, don’t put nobody else in danger,” she said. “Especially if you still don’t catch the vehicle.”
Watch: Victim recounts dangers as former MPD official defends Milwaukee pursuit policy
While total pursuits decreased by 11 percent compared to the year before, injuries went in the opposite direction.
Twenty five percent of all chases in 2024 ended with an injury. That’s a 4 percent increase compared to a record year of chases in 2023.
Meanwhile, less than half of all suspects were arrested and the city set a new record for the highest percentage of pursuits exceeding 75 m.p.h.
“Do you support Milwaukee’s pursuit policy?” reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“I do,” replied former MPD assistant chief Ray Banks. “The bad guys are not the officers chasing, the bad guys are the guys disregarding the law.”
Banks knows what it’s like to be in the driver’s seat of a squad during dangerous police chases after spending three decades with MPD.
“If they do nothing, it becomes worse,” he said. “Word gets around that the police won’t chase you if you do A, B, C, and D and it gets worse. So the officers are really put in a very difficult position.”
Banks was with the department as pursuit policies evolved. Back in 2010, officers needed probable cause that a violent felony occurred or was about to occur to chase. A big policy shift came in 2017 when officers were authorized to chase reckless drivers. A police that remains in place, and one that should if you ask Banks.
“If officers don’t pursue, I think we’ll get back to where that was and I think we’ll start to see even more reckless behavior, more reckless driving, and more crimes being committed with cars because they know that the police can’t chase them,” he said. “That’s where it becomes a double-edged sword.”
MPD declined our interview request about this new report. The department tells TMJ4 it’s taking a new step to evaluate police pursuits. It just launched a police/citizen pursuit review board.
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