GREENFIELD -- One man is dead after a high-speed chase that started in Greenfield ended with a crash in Milwaukee, police say.
The chase started just before midnight Thursday night when a Greenfield officer tried to stop a speeding car. The driver fled from the officer and a chase ensued.
According to officers, they performed a pursuit intervention technique (PIT) and the chase ended when the suspect's vehicle left the road and hit a tree in the 3200 block of S. 25th St, south of W. Oklahoma Ave.
The driver of the vehicle, a 25-year-old West Allis man, was killed. The officer, a 29-year-old with five years of experience, was uninjured.
This is the third high-speed chase Greenfield Police have been involved in over the last month.
One ended because they were able to use On-Star to shut down the stolen vehicle. However, less than two weeks ago, Greenfield Police performed a similar PIT maneuver on a stolen SUV.
The vehicle is seen on the dashcam, sliding sideways on the road before going onto a lawn and crashing into a home near 13th & Ohio, just a few blocks away from Thursday night's crash.
"It's not like you wake up every morning hearing stuff like this in this neighborhood," Elizabeth Janners, a nearby neighbor said. "We don't have a whole lot that goes on in this neighborhood."
Janners slept through the ordeal. She says she didn't hear sirens or the crash. She was only alerted to it when her husband notified her as he was leaving for work.
She says the neighborhood has quite a few families with young children and she's grateful the tree was what stopped the chase instead of someone's home, putting children's lives at risk.
"What if it ran into my house?" Janners said. "My daughter's room is right there. She's in the front and we're upstairs. I don't know. It is scary."
Police say the Oak Creek police department is leading the investigation as part of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team and is being assisted by member agencies as well as the Wisconsin State Patrol. Astate law created in 2013 requires an outside agency to investigate whenever an 'officer-involved death' occurs.
S. 25th St. between Euclid and Ohio was still closed as of 6:00 a.m. Friday.
Check back often for updates on this developing story.
