Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman was injured in a crash Monday when a dump truck struck his city-owned SUV on the city’s northwest side.
The crash happened just after 10 a.m. at West Silver Spring Drive and North 68th Street after Norman took part in a press conference with Mayor Cavalier Johnson about reckless driving.
Norman was stopped at a red light headed east when the dump truck, headed the same direction, seemed like it was slowing for the red light, according to a Journal Sentinel reporter who witnessed the crash. The truck then tried moving to another lane at the last second, rear-ending Norman’s SUV.
Norman received medical attention at the scene. He and a 56-year-old male officer, who was also involved in the crash, were transported to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to a Police Department statement.
The driver of the dump truck stayed on the scene and is cooperating, according to the statement.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash.
Johnson in a statement said he had reached out to Norman to offer his wishes for a quick recovery.
“The traffic crash that injured the Chief was cruelly coincidental in that it took place immediately following our news conference on reckless driving,” he said. “We did not need this type of reminder that all drivers need to slow down and increase caution on our roadways.”
The press conference at Milwaukee Police District 4, 6929 W. Silver Spring Dr., was held after three women were killed last week when a man sped through a flashing red light, crashing into their vehicle and sending it into a tree at the intersection of West Florist Avenue and North Sherman Boulevard.
That fatal crash was the fifth in less than a week. A total of seven people died in the crashes.
Johnson at the press conference attributed the recent deaths to reckless driving, including the three women who were killed.
“They died in circumstances that were completely, just totally and completely, unnecessary,” he said. “Their lives are gone, apparently because somebody made a decision to blatantly ignore traffic laws. And everybody — drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, everybody — they’ve all seen it, drivers who speed and do that outrageously, ignore traffic signals, pass wildly on the right on the shoulder. These drivers should not be behind the wheel of a vehicle, and I want them off the road.”
At the press conference, Norman said continued work by city officials was making a difference in reckless driving, though he said everyone in the community needed to be involved in addressing the problem.
“I encourage everyone to think creatively about how to address this issue. The solution just isn’t one thing or one approach,” he said. “It is all of us working together to address it.”
The city has been struggling for years with reckless driving.
The extent of the crisis is borne out by data from the Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit:
- In 2021, 67 people were killed in crashes and 355 suffered incapacitating injuries.
- In 2022, 77 people were killed in crashes and 308 suffered incapacitating injuries.
- So far this year, 67 people have been killed in crashes and 295 have suffered incapacitating injuries.
Including people who suffered non-incapacitating injuries and those who suffered possible or no injuries, the number of people involved in crashes in the city totaled more than 41,000 in 2021, nearly 35,700 in 2022 and more than 29,000 so far in 2023, the data show.
Between Feb. 24, 2021, and 2023 year-to-date, the Traffic Safety Unit has issued more than 44,000 traffic citations.
Speeding citations have far outpaced other types of citations issued by the unit, which was created in early 2021 to battle reckless driving.
There have been more than 24,000 speeding citations in that time, with more than 10,000 of those denoting the driver going between 20 mph and 24 mph above the speed limit, the data show. In another 4,000-plus cases, the driver was going between 25 mph and 29 mph over the speed limit.
Johnson also highlighted the city’s varied efforts to reduce reckless driving, including enforcement, redesigning streets to physically limit some reckless driving and educating drivers.
“We cannot, and we will not, accept the current frequency of reckless driving that we are seeing in our community,” he said.
Contact Elliot Hughes at [email protected] or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
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