Motorist charged in wild chase that ended in crash
A Greenfield motorist was charged Monday with leading police on a wild chase that included running over stop signs, driving over road spikes meant to stop him and plowing into a traffic signal pole and fire hydrant.
The driver roared down the freeway while weaving in and out of traffic and plowing into another vehicle, injuring a driver, according to the charges.
Officers first learned of Oleksiy Raldukhin, 30, when a motorist in River Hills contacted police to report someone in a black Dodge Ram pickup tried to hit his vehicle several times on W. Brown Deer Road shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
That motorist said the pickup swerved into his lane in an attempt to strike his vehicle several times and then stopped in front of him before reversing quickly and stopping just short of striking the motorist’s car.
Four minutes after the initial 911 call, Brown Deer police got a call that a black Dodge Ram had struck a traffic sign at N. 54th St. and W. Brown Deer Road. Two minutes after that another 911 caller reported the same pickup struck another road sign at N. Arbon Drive and W. Brown Deer Road and a short time later yet another 911 caller reported seeing the pickup blow through several red lights heading toward I-43.
A Bayside police officer saw Raldukhin speeding on Brown Deer Road and tried to stop him, but Raldukhin evaded capture, performing two U-turns on Brown Deer Road before entering I-43 heading south.
A Glendale police officer deployed stop sticks on I-43 to stop Raldukhin, but he drove over them and continued speeding, swerving into all three lanes of traffic.
As one of his front tires began disintegrating, Raldukhin exited at Locust St., passing traffic and colliding with a vehicle at N. 8th and W. Locust streets, injuring the driver.
Raldukhin’s vehicle then crashed into a fire hydrant and a traffic signal pole, which sparked a fire that snaked 50 feet in the fuel that led to the pickup truck. His truck quickly ignited and Raldukhin, his hair on fire, ran from the scene but was arrested in a nearby alley.
A breath test recorded his blood-alcohol level was 0.22, almost three times the legal limit. Raldukhin admitted drinking wine, beer and vodka.
Raldukhin was convicted in 2010 and 2015 of drunken driving and was out on bail on an Oct. 1 Crawford County drunken driving, third offense, case.