Man charged in car crash that injured 2 after Summerfest

A 24-year-old Milwaukee man is accused of driving drunk or drugged before crashing his car, injuring two passengers and running from the scene in downtown Milwaukee.

Rodney L. Frye Jr. was charged Tuesday with second-degree reckless injury, hit-and-run, injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle and operating without a valid license, all felonies.

Police say Frye was driving a Dodge Challenger that crashed about 2 a.m. June 29 on East Clybourn Street near North Jefferson Street.

Multiple officers responded to the crash and found two passengers who were seriously injured. One had a fractured vertebra and a second had a collapsed lung, multiple facial fractures and bleeding on the brain. The second passenger remained in serious condition this week, according to a criminal complaint.

Officers also found several bottles of alcohol inside the car. One of the passengers gave a description of the driver and an officer found Frye when he was searching nearby, the complaint says.

Frye was lying on the ground on East St. Paul Avenue. A loaded gun was found 30 feet away from him.

Officers noted Frye had slurred speech, glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol. In an interview with detectives, Frye admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine that night, according to the complaint.

But he said he also thought he “may have been drugged” at a club he went to after Summerfest, the complaint says.

Police pulled security video from a nearby business and saw the Challenger speeding on Jefferson Street, ignoring a stop sign, hitting a fence and then spinning into a freeway wall.

Investigators also determined the car was going about 87 mph just before the crash, according to the complaint.

Frye is out of custody and expected to make his first court appearance on Thursday.