MILWAUKEE — The crash caught on camera outside of Morse Middle School Monday morning is just the latest reckless driving incident on or near Milwaukee Public Schools property.
Since 2021, there have been other reckless driving behaviors outside of Marshall High School, Milwaukee School of Languages and Bradley Tech. Each showing their own head-shaking behaviors of vehicles driving on the grass, on the sidewalk, weaving in and out of young students like pylons of a driving course. This type of reckless abandon provided anxiety-inducing gasps, understanding the threat of injury was so great for a senseless and irresponsible act. However, each of those incidents ended without any fanfare. While stressful and incredibly dangerous, no one was hurt in any of those instances.
That changed Monday outside of Morse Middle School.
"Oh my gosh," Ald. Larresa Taylor said. "When I saw the video, my first expression was shock and a little bit of sadness that someone could have been injured in a very serious way."
VIDEO | Watch blurred version of the bus crash:
Taylor represents the district where this crash happened. She watched the video with the I-Team at City Hall Monday afternoon. She was disturbed by the video and expressed concern for everyone involved.
"Protecting our children is the utmost importance and should be a priority," Taylor said. "When we focus on what we need to do and not just the anger behind seeing an act such as this."
The car that crashed into the bus was a stolen Kia, according to Milwaukee Police. Despite stolen vehicles being down year over year, according to Mayor Cavalier Johnson, 2023 data shows Kias and Hyundais are still the vast majority of stolen vehicles in the City of Milwaukee. Since 2021, more than half of vehicles stolen in Milwaukee are Kias or Hyundais, including 989 through April of 2023.
"Why is this occurring?" Taylor said. "And why is it occurring so often?"
Additionally, reckless driving traffic stops are on pace to set a record in 2023. Through the first three months of the year, there have been 200 traffic stops for reckless driving. It's the highest in at least the last six years and nearly double the amount during the same time frame 2021.
Milwaukee Police say the driver from this crash ran from the scene. In the last six years, the age of reckless drivers averages mid to late 20s, with traffic stops as young as 12 years old and as old as 78.
To make an impact, Taylor says it's going to take everyone in the city. As a former educator, Taylor says it's important for adults to gain trust with young people to make a true impact.
"I would encourage others to become a trusted adult that can impact the lives of young people, so we don't see these incidents occur as often as we have been," Taylor said. "Are there other activities that we can take our young people and focus on those other activities? We have many things in our community that our young people can look to."
She also wants the people indirectly impacted by this crash to feel safe going to school.
"My heart goes out to not only the children at the school who have had to witness this, it goes out to the young man as well as the family of the young man and to all the families and the community members witnessing this," Taylor said. "My heart just goes out because this is just a senseless crime we've had to witness."
Milwaukee Public Schools released a statement following the crash outside of Morse Middle School:
This morning, a reckless driving situation resulted in an incident outside of Morse Middle School during arrival. The incident resulted in injuries to an individual riding in the vehicle that was driving recklessly. Damage was caused to multiple parked vehicles, including a school bus. One individual who was exiting the bus at the time of the collision was also injured.Staff immediately worked to get everyone inside the building and contacted the police.MPS is taking proactive measures to keep our sites safe while reckless driving continues to be an issue in the community. This school year, MPS has placed hundreds of concrete bollards at our buildings and added other measures like fence posts, barricades, and cameras to our properties.We have also been actively working with representatives from the city and public safety partners to see how we can work together to identify areas that can be mitigated.While we are doing everything we can to enhance safety at our sites, we hope members of the community can understand the full impact of this issue. Reckless driving is dangerous, and we must work together to share this message with students. Adults can help by talking to children about safe driving and the consequences regarding dangerous behavior.
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