Man arrested in crash that killed officer
Suspect has history of driving, drug arrests
A man with a history of drunken driving and a revoked license has been arrested following a squad car crash that claimed the life of a Milwaukee police officer, according to city officials and police and court records.
Officer Charles Irvine Jr. died Thursday after the squad in which he was a passenger crashed on the city’s northwest side during a pursuit of a reckless driver, police said. Officer Matthew Schulze, who was driving, was injured in the crash, which occurred about 5 p.m. in the 7600 block of West Silver Spring Drive.
Irvine, 23, a four-year veteran of the department, was the first Milwaukee
“Our Milwaukee police family is suffering. We lost one of our own.”
Police Chief Alfonso Morales
officer killed in the line of duty in 22 years.
Irvine and Schulze were pursuing a Volkswagen Passat when their squad rolled over.
Ladell William Harrison, 28, of Milwaukee, is believed to be the driver of the Passat. He was taken into custody at 8:20 p.m. Thursday in the 9500 block of West Fond du Lac Avenue, according to arrest logs.
A 45-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman also were arrested, Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said. Police were questioning them Friday and planned to present the case to the district attorney for charges in the coming days.
‘We lost one of our own’
Schulze, 36, also a four-year-veteran of the department, was treated and later released from Froedtert Hospital, Morales said during a news conference Friday at MacArthur Square.
“Our Milwaukee police family is suffering,” Morales said. “We lost one of our own.”
Irvine and Schultze were based at District 4 at North 69th Street and West Silver Spring Drive.
Morales described Irvine as a dedicated public servant “with a stellar work ethic who never complained.”
“He was a funny and quiet officer who did great impersonations and would give his shirt off his back,” Morales said.
Irvine graduated in 2013 from Milwaukee Lutheran High School, where principal Adam Kirsch on Friday called him “a great all-around student.”
Kirsch described Irvine as quiet and religious.
“He just exemplified what our mission is about,” Kirsch said of Irvine, whom he knew as Chuckie. “He had a relationship with his Lord and Savior. He identified what his gifts and passions were, and he identified ways he could use them.”
Irvine attended Northwest Lutheran School for elementary school and Covenant Lutheran Church.
As a senior in high school, Kirsch said, Irvine expressed an interest in “some type of service career.”
He began working as a police aide when he was 19.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Irvine “dedicated his life, sacrificed his life, for the residents of this city.”
Irvine is the first Milwaukee police officer killed in the line of duty since Officer Wendolyn O. Tanner was fatally shot during a foot pursuit of a suspect in 1996 in an open area behind a home in the 4800 block of North 21st Street. Tanner was awaiting the birth of his first child.
The incident began about 5 p.m. Thursday when the officers saw “a reckless vehicle being driven eastbound on West Silver Spring at North 91st Street,” Morales said.
The officers tried to stop the Passat by activating their lights, but the driver did not pull over and the pursuit began, Morales said. “The Passat approached North 76th Street, and the squad car lost control and rolled over,” Morales said.
Police located the Passat in the 9400 block of West Bradley Road, he said.
Morales said the driver “has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2006 with several drug-related arrests.”
Court records show Harrison’s driver’s license was first revoked in 2010. He lost his license again in 2016 for drunken driving. Last year, he was charged with operating while revoked, a misdemeanor. In that incident, he was driving a 2007 Jaguar with a counterfeit temporary registration plate.
Criminal charges under review
Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm said his office’s homicide unit is closely monitoring the case.
“We’re going to do a very thorough review of all the evidence that surrounds the circumstances here, including anything that led up to this and anything that might have occurred after this,” he said. “We’re going to make sure that we make the appropriate decision and people are held accountable for this loss.”
Prosecutors likely are considering Wisconsin’s felony murder statute as one possible charge, said Christopher Hawthorne, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
“I would certainly expect the district attorney to file under this theory,” Hawthorne said.
The felony murder charge can apply to people accused of causing the death of another while committing or attempting to commit a crime that is specified in state law. One of those specified crimes is battery or threat to an officer.
But based on the information released so far, the case might not be as clear-cut as other sets of circumstances, Hawthorne said.
“If it was a car chase as a result of a felony, then the intent flows through the car chase,” he said.
“If this guy had committed a robbery and he was trying to get away from police having committed a robbery, it seems almost certain that he would be charged and even potentially convicted under the felony murder rule,” Hawthorne said.
In a similar recent case in California, a jury found a driver guilty of seconddegree murder after he fled a traffic stop and led an officer on a chase that ended when the officer lost control and crashed. The officer, David Nelson, died at the scene.
In that case, the jury agreed with prosecutors that the driver’s actions were so dangerous they showed an indifference to human life. Prosecutors here in Wisconsin may decide to pursue similar criminal charges related to recklessness, such as second-degree reckless homicide.
Morales, who wore a black ribbon across his police shield during Friday’s news conference, angrily declined to answer a reporter’s question about whether the chase had been called off before the squad car rolled over.
Milwaukee’s pursuit policy has been the subject of widespread debate in recent years. Currently, officers can chase vehicles linked to violent crime and are allowed to pursue cars tied to drug dealing or reckless driving.
Officers can chase if the “necessity of immediate apprehension outweighs the level of danger created by the vehicle pursuit, as in the case of the vehicle engaged in reckless driving.”
Those rules were the latest revisions to a policy that first drew public scrutiny in 2010.
After four bystanders were killed by drivers fleeing police that year, the department tightened the policy, allowing officers to chase a vehicle only if they had probable cause that it — or the people inside — had been involved in a violent felony.
They could not chase for misdemeanor offenses, such as drug possession, or nonviolent felonies, such as burglary.
The debate took on new life in April 2017 when a majority of Common Council members sent a letter to the Fire and Police Commission calling on board members to order then-Police Chief Edward Flynn “to redraw his pursuit policy.”
One year ago, on June 7, 2017, Flynn made his case to a committee of Fire and Police Commissioners about why he favored the stricter pursuit policy.
During his presentation, Flynn invoked the names of officers Roger Sterling and Steven Hasenstab.
Sterling died in a police pursuit on May 11, 1987, when he was responding as backup to the area of North 32nd and West Center streets. His squad car crashed into another squad. Another officer was critically injured and was unable to continue as an officer.
Two years later, Hasenstab died in a pursuit related to a stolen car. On Aug. 19, 1989, he crashed in the area of North 27th and West Vine streets and died from his injuries several days later. He was survived by his wife and child.
The commission ordered Flynn to change the policy last July and approved his proposed changes in September, resulting in the current rules for police chases.
Nationally, 475 police officers have been killed in crashes or while conducting traffic stops or pursuits from 2006 to 2015, according to an FBI report.
Late Friday, members of law enforcement escorted Irvine’s body from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office to Jelacic Funeral Home, 5639 W. Hampton Ave.
The Fire and Police Commission issued a statement of condolences to Irving’s family and to his partner, as well as to the entire Police Department, on Friday.
It said, in part: “Our body recognizes the bravery and sacrifice that our city’s first responders display every day, and we appreciate their willingness to serve our community.”
Also Friday, Gov. Scott Walker ordered state and federal flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Irvine.
“Charles died while serving to keep his community safe, and his loss is a painful reminder of the dangers faced and sacrifices made by our first responders every single day,” Walker said. “We keep Charles’ memory in our hearts today and always.”