2 Wisc. Boys, 10, Killed in High-Speed Police Chase Crash as Father Flees Traffic Stop

Mar. 15, 2025

2 10-Year-Old Wisconsin Boys Killed in High-Speed Police Car Chase as Father Flees Traffic Stop.

A traffic stop in Wisconsin led to a high-speed police chase on Wednesday that resulted in the tragic death of two 10-year-old male passengers.

Waukesha County Sheriff Deputy Inspector Patrick Esser called the incident a “heartbreaking situation” ina press conference shared to the department’s Facebook pageThursday.

Elsewhere in his press conference, Esser detailed what led to the accident.

“One of our deputies was out on the interstate, observed a vehicle, developed probable cause to stop the vehicle and ultimately attempted to stop the vehicle,” Esser told reporters. “The vehicle initially stopped and before the deputy could make contact, the driver fled the scene at a high rate of speed so that deputy and another deputy began pursuing.”

Waukesha County Sheriff Eric Severson, in the same press conference, shared that the “probable cause” to stop the vehicle was determined based on high speed and a lack of license plates.

As it fled the scene, Esser said “the suspect vehicle, completely on its own, crashed, which resulted in a rollover of the vehicle and the death of two minors that were in the vehicle.”

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“This is a horrific traffic crash," Severson said of the incident. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the lost children. This is an incredibly difficult event to learn about.”

“Looking at the incident from a policy and procedural standpoint to make sure we’ve done our job as well as we can,” he added. “It appears that we have no evidence to believe  that laws were violated on behalf of the sheriff’s deputies involved — or policies. It looks like they did their job right.

Severson also said that the “possible” charges the driver could face include more than twelve counts of behavior “causing death” and “causing great bodily harm,” including “reckless driving” and “fleeing and eluding.”

He also noted that the driver had an “outstanding warrant for possession of a firearm,” so “bail jumping” was another possible charge.

source: people.com