Records show MPD explained to Water Street crash driver why she would not be charged, despite 2 being hospitalized
CBS 58 MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- We have new information in the crash on Water Street that left two young women with serious injuries, and the driver only with citations. CBS 58 obtained the crash report and Milwaukee police footage through an open records request.
According to the Milwaukee Police Department, a 31-year-old was driving north on Water Street on July 20 around 2 AM, when she went through a green light, despite there being barriers in the middle of the road. 22-year-olds Samantha Zganjar and Chloe Handrich were walking on the crosswalk when they were struck.
As police arrived, witnesses told them the victims were bleeding and "got ran over". Zganjar was on the median and Handrich was laying on the middle of the road. One witness told officers, "They was literally crossing the street. Roadblocks were up, they had the right to cross the street. The girl just shot through the green light." The speed limit in the area is 35 miles per hour, but some witnesses told police the driver was driving closer to 50-60 miles per hour. Police documents don't reference her speed.
Officers spoke with the driver, who told them she had drank a beer and tequila shot around 5 PM the night before. She said was the designated driver picking up her friends from the bars and didn't expect there to be a barricade: "the light was green. Sometimes they have it barricaded, sometimes they don't. I'm proceeding through. I see there’s a barricade, I hit the brakes, but the ladies were walking across. I feel like i hit barricades, and the barricades hit them."
An Operating While Intoxicated investigator arrived on the scene around 3 AM to conduct Standardized Field Sobriety Tests. In a video MPD provided, we saw the investigator ask some questions, but no drug or alcohol tests were given. An exchange between officers was caught on their body cameras saying, "Do we suspect OWI?" to which the other officer responded "Potentially. She said she was [designated driver] but I swear I sniffed alcohol on her."
The two victims were taken to the hospital for serious injuries. According to the crash report, Zganjar suffered a broken nose, multiple facial fractures, five teeth destroyed, a broken left arm and a left hand and road rash to majority of the left side of her body. She reportedly needed 20 stitches to close a large laceration to the back of her head. Handrich suffered a broken pelvis on both sides, a broken tibia, punctured lung, and level four laceration on her liver. Police say a screw was implanted in her sternum, she had undergone "several operations" and as of Sept. 27, was still in a wheelchair.
The driver said she had taken EMT classes, so she checked the pulses of the two young women. Witnesses, however, told police they didn't see that happen.
The front of the car was dented with orange paint from the barricades, and police said they saw what appeared to be makeup on the hood of the car.
Various times through the night, the driver said she knew she'd be arrested. But officers pushed back, saying "it's not a guarantee" since she had been cooperative remaining on scene, describing it as an "accident." The OWI investigator told her, "If they’re stable and everything is like that, then it’s just a crash with some tickets. If it’s for whatever reason a fatal, then we have a whole separate unit that comes out here and they take over the investigation."
Family members of the victims have told us they were pushing for charges.
She was only cited for failure to yield the right of way, operating with suspended registration, and operating without insurance.
To donate to the families, you can click here for Samantha and here for Chloe.
