Supervisors Authorize Sheriff to Tow Reckless Drivers

A tow truck hauls away a vehicle on N. Milwaukee St. in 2019. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Drive recklessly in Milwaukee County and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) just might take your car.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance Thursday authorizing the MCSO to impound vehicles for reckless driving.

The resolution was authored by Sup. Willie Johnson, Jr., who first introduced the measure in March. At the time, a majority of the board voted to hold off on a decision, sending it back to committee until after the April election. It passed Thursday with a vast majority of the board in favor.

The resolution gives the MCSO and other law enforcement agencies the authority to impound vehicles and charge the drivers fees for towing and storage when they are caught driving recklessly. The county would return stolen vehicles impounded under this ordinance to their owners free of charge.

Stolen and unclaimed vehicles could be disposed of after 60 days. Other vehicles could be disposed of after 90 days if the owner who drove it recklessly does not pay the fees. Disposal includes either scrapping or selling the vehicle.

The new ordinance is made possible by a recent change in state law, lobbied for by the City of Milwaukee. The county ordinance mirrors one passed by the Milwaukee Common Council last year.

The MCSO supported the ordinance, saying it would give the agency a tool for cracking down on dangerous street takeovers. The Milwaukee Police Department recently arrested a ringleader of the street takeovers on felony charges of recklessly endangering safety, possessing a machine gun and possession of more than 20 pounds of marijuana.

Sup. Justin Bielinski voted against the measure, telling his colleagues he was wary about giving the government more authority to seize property. He suggested instead of a fine, the county could make returning the vehicle “contingent on better driving cases or something like that.” He was joined in opposition by supervisors Caroline Gómez-Tom, Juan Miguel Martinez and Deanna Alexander.

“There’s all sorts of good language in here that protects people that should be protected,” said Sup. Shawn Rolland. “But reckless drivers are impacted, we’re preventing repeat cases and disrupting this as much as we can.”

Johnson, Jr., noted that the county board previously adopted a Vision Zero resolution formally committing to achieving zero deaths or serious injuries on county roadways by 2037.

“The idea is to stop reckless driving,” he said. It’s not just a problem for the city; the sheriff’s office frequently receives tips concerning reckless driving in county parks, he said.

Sup. Patti Logsdon suggested the resolution could have prevented the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack, saying the perpetrator, Darrell Brooks, had previously been arrested for reckless driving. Weeks before the attack, Brooks was arrested by the Milwaukee Police Department, not the sheriff’s office, for punching and running over his girlfriend with his vehicle.

Sup. Kathleen Vincent noted that vehicles are frequently towed just for parking in the wrong area.

“To not do something to deter [reckless driving] would be, I think, negligence on our part,” Vincent said.

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