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Drivers fled from almost a third of the auto accidents police investigated in Milwaukee in 2009 but only about 11 percent statewide, records say.

The consequences vary from paint scuffs and scratches to major injuries like the one 44-year-old James Johnson suffered when he ran afoul of an impatient driver where West Burleigh Street crosses North Sherman Boulevard.

Johnson’s tibia, the second largest bone in the human body, snapped when a small, dark-colored passenger car struck his right leg as he crossed the boulevard under a crossing signal.

“Every lawyer in town was calling me. They started calling while I was still in the hospital,” he said. But Johnson didn’t know who to sue.

According to records provided by Milwaukee police, 2,907 of the 9,387 accidents officers investigated in 2009, including Johnson’s, were classified as hit and runs. Drivers struck moving cars, parked cars, road signs and buildings but neither waited for police to arrive nor contacted authorities later.

Statewide, police classified 11,234 of 106,866 accidents that occurred on public roads in 2009 as hit and runs, preliminary data provided by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation states.

Rates are highest in inner-city zip codes

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Employment and Training Institute are watching the problem. In a study of risks facing MPS students, they surveyed hit and run statistics from nine inner-city zip codes and found two where drivers fled from over 40 percent of recorded accidents in 2008.

(photo by Adrian Palomo)

In a near south side zip code, 53204, “which includes a sizeable unlicensed immigrant population,” the report says, almost half of the accidents were hit and runs. And in 53206, “one of the poorest neighborhoods on the North Side,” drivers fled from 42% of crashes, according to data from the city’s Community Mapping and Analysis for Safety Strategies program.

Johnson, who lives in one of the nine zip codes ETI studied, hoped to work for the U.S. Census in 2010, but the break dashed his plans. He was between jobs when the car hit him on Dec. 1. A massive cast encasing his right leg didn’t help his employment search.

Uninsured, he’s out $1,800 so far and expects to pay several thousand more and undergo physical therapy. His cast, the latest of three, could come off in March.

It’s the suspensions, stupid

ETI Director John Pawasarat says drivers flee because they lack a valid driver’s license or carry criminal baggage and want to avoid police. “More and more people don’t have a driver’s license,” he said, thanks to Wisconsin’s strict suspension and revocation policies.

According to DOT, the leading reason the agency suspended or revoked licenses in 2008, by a wide margin, was failure to pay a fine.

Of the 419,756 suspensions and revocations handed down, about one for every 13 people living in the state, almost half were “failure to pay forfeitures.” The second leading reason, driving while intoxicated, accounted for about 17 percent.

Pawasarat described what he says is a common trap for impoverished drivers. A traffic or parking ticket goes unpaid. Municipal Court and DOT suspend the car’s license plate. Later, police ticket the driver for operating the vehicle with a suspended plate. The driver’s license is suspended. Finally, facing possible revocation, the driver flees an accident.

“It’s not a Milwaukee problem. It’s just more concentrated here,” says Nichole Yunk, director of the Driver’s License Recovery Program, which provides legal assistance to drivers who lost their licenses, mostly due to FTP forfeitures. The group is funded by city government, private foundations, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and other agencies.

She says excessive suspensions burden courts and that the reason for such a glut is largely financial. “When people say it’s about personal responsibility, that’s a very unfair accusation,” she argues.

Nabbing drivers who run

While bum licenses and no insurance may account for many hit and runs, arrest warrants and intoxication can, too, according to Officer Christopher Bruns of the Milwaukee police Crash Reconstruction Unit. He’s worked in the division, which is involved in all hit and run investigations, for 11 years.

Bruns estimates that about a third of reported accidents in Milwaukee are classified as hit and runs, a conclusion matched by records. In recent years, he says, the rate has held steady. According to DOT, the rate also held steady statewide with police calling about 11% of accidents hit and runs.
MPD records say officers alleged about 900 violations of hit and run laws in 2009, about one citation or arrest for every third offense.

Vehicle descriptions and license plates can lead police to hit and run drivers, Bruns says. Also, under a state law adopted in 2005, vehicle owners can be cited for a hit and run committed by another driver — unless they provide persuasive evidence that someone else was driving the car and identify the person.

Police can enforce penalties ranging from a municipal citation to a Class E felony carrying up to 15 years in prison after finding a suspected hit and run driver, depending largely on the severity of injuries. When no injury results, according to Bruns, officers may choose between writing a municipal citation and alleging a misdemeanor.

What surprises Johnson now, thinking back on the accident, was how the driver who later fled at first came to his aid. “He said, ‘Anything I can do, anything,’” Johnson recalls. “The man sounded apologetic.” The victim was lying on a twisted leg and growing cold in his extremities as shock began to set in. The driver offered his coat.

Medics, the first responders to arrive, pulled the coat off the shaken man and took him to a hospital just a few blocks away. But sometime before police arrived, the driver fled.

Hit and run rates

1) Near South Side / MPD District Two / 41%

2) North Side / MPD District Five / 36%

3) West and North Side / MPD District Three / 32%

4) Northwest Side / MPD District Seven / 28%

5) Downtown and East Side / MPD District One / 28%

6) Far South Side / MPD District Six / 26%

7) Far Northwest Side / MPD District Four / 23%

(source: Milwaukee Police Department)

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