If You Must Have Your Car Towed, Try Never To Have It Happen In Milwaukee

Three Incidents Of Towing Cars With People Inside

By Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125779602

On June 1, 2023, an SUV was severely damaged when it crashed into a tree. The vehicle was suspected to have been stolen. A 16-year-old boy with non-fatal injuries was found a short distance away, taken to a local hospital, and later arrested. The vehicle was then towed to a city-owned tow lot.

That should have been the end of the story, except that four days later, police were called out to the lot to investigate a smell. The body of a 17-year-old was found in the back seat where it had been the entire time. A week later, nobody’s job status with either the police or public works department has changed. Mistakes will happen; while it seems the body of a 17-year-old would be hard to miss, anything can happen once.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first or second instance involving Milwaukee civil servants and cars. In January 2018, a 4-year-old girl was left inside her family’s van for about eight hours in freezing temperatures after police arrested her mother on suspicion of drunk driving and towed the vehicle. At least ten city personnel were involved from the time of the mother’s arrest and when she was found. Two police officers were suspended for 45 days, no other employees were reprimanded, and no charges were filed. The city settled a lawsuit with the family for $50,000

In January 2022, a car crashed into a building and started a fire. The vehicle was towed away, nobody noticing the body of a 21-year-old woman in a back seat that went unnoticed for several hours. The Fire Chief apologized publicly and said there would be a thorough review of their policies.

There’s no evidence that either of the fatalities could have been prevented if they had received medical treatment instead of being towed away and neglected for days/hours. But it’s possible. Most large cities go years, if not lifetimes, without experiencing incidents like this. Milwaukee has had three within a year and a half. It’s enough to make one wonder.