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An 18-year-old man from the Menomonee Indian Reservation was sentenced recently to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to threatening a police officer.

The sentence stems from an October incident in which Jerry B. Nahwahquaw allegedly led police – officers from the Menomonee County Sheriff’s Department and the Menomonee Tribal Police Department – on a 26-mile high-speed chase reaching speeds of 90 mph. According to police, there were other passengers in Nahwahquaw’s car, and the group had been drinking.

A sergeant for the Menomonee Tribal Police Department, technically a federal police officer, attempted to stop Nahwahquaw by placing “road spikes” in his lane of travel. The sergeant parked his squad car in the other lane, hoping to force Nahwahquaw’s car into the lane where the spikes would deflate his tires.

But according to police reports, Nahwahquaw drove towards the squad car until the last moment, when he swerved and hit the spikes. To avoid Nahwahquaw’s oncoming car, the sergeant jump into a nearby ditch but was uninjured. Officers later apprehended Nahwahquaw after his car got stuck on a dirt road.

In a plea agreement signed in January, Nahwahquaw agreed to plead guilty to forcibly assaulting, impeding, intimidating and interfering with the sergeant “while intentionally committing another felony and through the use of a dangerous weapon, that is, by eluding law enforcement officers though the operation of a motor vehicle at speeds well in excess of the posted limits.”

The agreement set no limits of Nahwahquaw’s possible sentence; he faced up to 20 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach, in federal court in Milwaukee, handed down three years last week followed by three years of extended supervision. Nahwahquaw will also be required to pay $2,283 in restitution for damage to a police car.

Griesbach recommended a reduction in the sentence if he completes a drug treatment program. The judge also recommended Nahwahquaw serve the sentence at the medium/minimum security federal prison in Oxford, Wis.

James Santelle, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, noted in a press release, “This case serves as a reminder to our community that significant consequences follow those who fail to stop at the request of law enforcement.”

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