2 Wisc. Boys, 10, Killed in High-Speed Police Chase Crash as Father Flees Traffic Stop
The driver fled a traffic stop on an interstate in Wisconsin late Wednesday night
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” in a press conference shared to the department's Facebook page Thursday.
According to Esser, a car driven by a 25-year-old man was pulled over late Wednesday night by officers. After attempting to flee the scene, the car flipped and rolled over, killing two of the six passengers.
The passengers were identified by Esser as two 10-year-old boys. They were riding the car's backseat, alongside a 14-year-old and 6-year-old girl, who were both taken to a nearby children’s hospital.
Names of the deceased were not released by police, nor were names of the rest of the passengers. Esser said that, as of Thursday, the driver and a 29-year-old female sitting in the front passenger seat were both in stable condition at a nearby hospital.
Authorities did not confirm the relationship between the passengers during the press conference, but multiple outlets including NBC News reported that the driver was the father of the two 10-year-old boys. PEOPLE has reached out to the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department for comment.
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.
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