Oct. 11, 2025 8:30p
Update 10-15: The driver was identified as a 39-year-old Kenosha man who remains hospitalized in stable condition. At the time of the crash, the driver was wanted for follow-up questioning in a retail thefts case, and had a warrant for his arrested for a parole violation. Charges have been referred to the D-A's office.
(WGTD)---A police pursuit on south Sheridan Rd. in Kenosha Saturday afternoon ended in a crash. The driver of the offending vehicle was seriously injured, and a carload of Tremper High School students who were caught up in the chase were shook up.
Taco Bell manager Randy Marquisse and his crew saw it all unfold in front of the restaurant.
Marquisse said they first saw a car being pursued by Pleasant Prairie police going south past the restaurant, then north after turning around near the McDonald's restaurant and striking a power pole The pole was snapped off half-way up. The offending vehicle then ping-ponged into several other cars before coming to rest just north of Taco Bell in the opposing lane of traffic.
A female passenger got out and was immediately confronted by officers at gunpoint, Marquisse said. "She sat there shaking and crying...they (the police) just cuffed her and put her in the back of (their) car."
The male driver was removed from the vehicle, loaded into a rescue squad then transferred to a Flight for Life helicopter that landed in the parking lot of the nearby Kenosha County Job Center.
A parent at the scene said one student was taken to the hospital to be checked out otherwise the rest were uninjured. Dressed in formal attire, the students had been on their way to homecoming activities.
Several blocks of normally busy Sheridan Road were closed to traffic as the investigation ensued and as the severed pole with several transformers on it dangled from wires precipitously in front of McDonald's. The restaurant was forced to close, as was the drive-thru lane at Taco Bell.
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