Milwaukee files civil suit against reckless driver, hoping to label his behavior a nuisance
In a surprise move Monday, the city of Milwaukee took the novel step of filing a civil lawsuit against what the city argues is one of its worst repeat reckless drivers.
Months ago, the Milwaukee Police Department and various members of the Common Council began exploring ways of filing civil lawsuits against reckless drivers, labeling them a nuisance and subjecting them to penalties such as seizing their car, rather than citations or criminal prosecution.
A drafted ordinance with that goal in mind appeared to be well on its way for approval in March until a last-minute legal opinion from the City Attorney’s Office stood in the way. Although council members assured the public they could remedy the situation and see the ordinance pass, the matter has never been discussed again in City Hall and appeared dead.
But the Milwaukee Police Department announced Monday the city agreed to file the civil lawsuit without a specific ordinance on the books, arguing instead that under state law, the driver’s behavior could be considered a public nuisance.
If the court agrees and the driver continues to violate rules of the road in the future, it could potentially mean the driver’s car would be taken away.
It’s a tactic that is not in use in other cities, police officials have said, but follows the same legal logic that allows local governments to seize a residential property when it’s determined to be a chronic location of drug dealing, illegal alcohol sales or other nuisances.
“This new approach of civil litigation against egregious reckless drivers is intended to send a clear message to all the chronic reckless drivers in Milwaukee that we take the safety of everyone on the roadways in our community very seriously," said Chief Jeffrey Norman, who first proposed pursuing civil litigation against reckless drivers.
The target of the lawsuit is Anthony Szablewski, 53, of Milwaukee. It alleges that Szablewski racked up 44 traffic-related citations in the city since 2017, and 14 through the first six months of 2022.
The infractions from this year include four speeding violations, running a red light, unsafe passing on the right and eight counts of operating a vehicle with a suspended license, suspended registration or without insurance, the complaint said.
In February, Szablewski was involved in a crash when he tried passing vehicles in a bus lane, the complaint said. In a two-week period in April, he was stopped twice for driving 20 to 30 miles above the speed limit and was seen weaving in and out of traffic lanes.
It’s that style of driving that has enraged Milwaukeeans for about the last decade as they watched reckless driving emerge as a top public safety and quality of life issue. In 2020, Milwaukee County set a new record of 107 traffic deaths.
“Going forward, drivers who chronically disregard our traffic laws will face consequences far beyond a slap on the wrist,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in a statement. “That’s what the people of our city expect, and that’s what I expect.”
Nick DeSiato, the chief of staff for the Milwaukee Police Department, has said before that the idea of suing reckless drivers in civil court is meant to target only the city’s worst offenders and change their behavior.
The Police Department said in a news release it has identified 20 additional offenders that have been ticketed more than 10 times in the past five years. Each will be notified that they may be subject to the same kind of litigation if they continue driving recklessly.
But DeSiato said the department did not give such a warning to Szablewski because “his behavior was so egregious that on its face, he didn’t need any warning.”
“The bottom line is this driving is going to get someone killed,” he said. “I suspect if you talk to the folks in the mayor’s office and the council, (they) are going to say it too: we’re sick and tired of it and the community is demanding more.”
Ald. Michael Murphy, who pushed for nuisance ordinance in the spring, praised the lawsuit Monday.
"I’m grateful to see the Police Department working collaboratively with the City Attorney’s Office and pursing this aggressively," he said. "I think it’s an important tool for trying to change people’s behavior.”
When the civil litigation idea hit a snag with the City Attorney’s Office in March, Murphy and Common Council President Jose Perez suggested the office was pushing its own policy agenda and did not believe it was the best way to address reckless driving.
But DeSiato said officials continued working with the City Attorney’s Office to find a resolution.
“It’s continued to be a priority for both the chief and the mayor and after further understanding what the objectives are, understanding the legal validity of this complaint, slowly but surely we were able to find sort of a common ground on what the objectives were and how to achieve them,” he said.
Alison Dirr of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In a novel move, Milwaukee files civil lawsuit against reckless driver
