MILWAUKEE — A gunshot can be heard from a mile away under the right conditions. An ear piercing 160+ decibels for certain handguns.
That’s louder than a jackhammer or ambulance with its sirens on at full blast. It’s even louder than a jet engine during take-off or any concert you’ve been to.
That’s the sound heard near the intersection of Teutonia Avenue and Ruby Avenue on the morning of Sept. 7. Milwaukee Police’s ShotSpotter, a technology developed to identify the sound of gunshots, heard a sound akin to gunfire that morning. But no trigger was pulled.
The sound was Jackie Roark being hit by a driver as she crossed the street at 5:46 a.m. She was pronounced dead 17 minutes later, 118 feet from where she was hit.
Crash reconstruction experts wrote, “The skid marks started approximately 14 feet prior to the decedent’s resting place and continued 160 feet to the place where the vehicle came to rest.”
The posted speed limit on Teutonia Avenue is 30 mph. The crash caused injuries to Roark’s head. She broke both arms, both legs below the knee, and fractured her pelvis.
“They could only identify her by her fingerprints,” Heather Bzdawka said. “I haven’t been the same ever since this.”
Bzdawka is Roark’s mother. She got a bad feeling the morning of Sept. 7 when she heard a news report about an unidentified woman killed in an early morning crash. She called the Medical Examiner to try and calm her own mother’s nerves. Before long, it was her nerves that needed calming.
“I called the Medical Examiner,” Bzdawka said. “I said, my daughter’s name is Jacklyn Roark. She said, are you Jackie’s mom?”
Bzdawka found out the unidentified woman was her daughter and questions began swirling in her head, none bigger than, "Who killed my daughter?"
“I was wondering, who took her life?” Bzdawka said.
The driver, 23-year-old Christdon Gordon, remained on the scene and was arrested. According to the District Attorney’s Office, Gordon was not supposed to be driving because he did not have a valid license. Because he did not have a valid license, he’s being charged in connection to Roark’s death. He was released on $2,500 cash bail.
However, the charge does not indicate any problems with how he was driving.
“To slam an accelerator that hard,” Bzdawka said. “What are you thinking?”
Investigators don’t know how fast Gordon was going. His vehicle was not equipped with any technology that could have recorded how fast he was going. According to Gordon and his girlfriend, there was another vehicle on the road driving recklessly that caused him to crash into Roark.
While driving his girlfriend to work with their three children in the car, Gordon's girlfriend told police there was a dark blue vehicle driving recklessly, making sudden lane changes and swerving back and forth. Because they feared for their safety, she says Gordon sped up to pass the vehicle near Teutonia and Ruby. When he started to pass the dark blue vehicle, Gordon's girlfriend says the vehicle hit his car near the rear passenger side, and then he hit Roark. Police indicated in the search warrant, there was “no damage consistent with another vehicle striking [Gordon’s] vehicle.”
“I thought they were going to get him for murder,” Bzdawka said.
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“At this point, he’s being charged with a felony for driving in the first place,” Kent Lovern, Chief Deputy District Attorney for Milwaukee County said. “There is no question the victim, in this case, is a totally innocent person and it’s an unspeakable tragedy for her family. The reality is, all of our matters are based on (the) evidence we have.”
Lovern says, because there is no indication of how fast Gordon was traveling, they are only able to charge him with what they know; he did not have a valid license and he was driving when he crashed into and killed Roark. Additionally, Lovern says there is a third party, unrelated to Gordon, who backed up his claims of an additional reckless driver.
“There is at least one outside witness we’re aware of that indicated another party was driving a vehicle recklessly at the same time that caused the defendant in this particular case to drive, swerve around him to avoid the reckless behavior of another driver,” Lovern said. “We have to acknowledge that right now. [Gordon] is being held accountable to the extent we can at this point in time. If additional evidence is gathered that warrants further charges, that will be considered.”
Lovern says, as the investigation continues, more charges could be added.
“The police are still engaging whether there is any other evidence that frankly, this individual was driving in a reckless fashion of his own volition,” Lovern said. “Or, was he doing something to avoid someone else driving in an even more reckless fashion? That’s what we’re still trying to learn in this case. We don’t know how fast that vehicle was going at the time of impact.”
According to the autopsy investigation report, Milwaukee Police Crash Reconstruction experts say Roark was struck in the north crosswalk at the intersection of Teutonia and Ruby. She came to a rest 118 feet from where she was struck. Police identified skid marks 14 feet prior to Roark’s resting place and continued for 160 feet to where the vehicle came to rest.
According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials, “Virtually all current production vehicles’ published road braking performance tests indicate stopping distances from 60 mph that are typically 120 to 140 feet, slightly less than half of the projected safety distances.”
The organization also indicates total stopping distance for a vehicle traveling 40 mph is 164 feet.
When factoring in perception, reaction distance and braking distance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a vehicle traveling 40 mph would need 159 feet to stop. A vehicle traveling 50 mph would need 221 feet to stop.
The speed limit on Teutonia is 30 mph.
Difficulties in Prosecuting Reckless Driving
When it comes to prosecuting reckless driving cases, Lovern says it’s dependent on the information they have.
“It is all situational,” Lovern said. “Reckless driving is something, we all know it when we see it, right? We’ve all experienced it, observing it on the roadways in our city. We have to be mindful that the evidence in every particular case has to match the elements of the crime that we’re presenting to a judge or jury. That doesn’t mean there is not frustration about whether our gut instinct tells us there ought to be more here. At the end of the day though, our job is to evaluate the evidence we have and make a fair and consistent decision based on that evidence.”
Since the beginning of 2021, the I-Team discovered at least 741 reckless driving cases have gone through the Milwaukee County Court system. However, 99 percent of these cases only come with monetary penalties and no jail punishment. Lovern explains this doesn’t paint a full picture of how the courts hold problem drivers accountable.
“The charge we add, when appropriate, is a charge of recklessly endangering safety,” Lovern said. “Which can be a Class G or Class F felony. We add that when circumstances of a particular situation warrant it.”
Lovern says because they don’t have evidence of how fast Gordon was traveling, they do not have enough information to charge Gordon with a heavier felony of recklessly endangering safety. There can be major differences in the punishment of these felonies.
Gordon’s charge, Knowingly Operate Motor Vehicle without a Valid License – Cause Death, is a Class H felony punishable by up to six years in prison and/or a fine up to $10,000. It is the second lowest level felony.
Recklessly Endangering Safety as a Class G or F felony, carries maximum sentences of 10 to 12 and a half years in prison and/or fines of $25,000.
Finding Solace
While glancing over photos of her daughter, Bzdawka remembers her daughter’s fearlessness and ability to draw.
“She wanted to be an architect and interior designer,” Bzdawka said. “She didn’t get a chance to do that.”
It's a future cut short. Instead of beaming with pride for her daughter’s accomplishments, Bzdawka now has to ponder how she’ll afford to pay for Jackie’s burial.
Even more, she has to figure out life without her only daughter.
“He murdered my child and I guess that’s okay,” Bzdawka said. “I just can’t believe that he can kill somebody and he’s free. So, I have to live with that.”
Gordon is due in court for a scheduling conference on Nov. 11.
