Riverside police arrested a man June 14 for driving without a license after he crashed into oncoming traffic.
Around 12:56 p.m., officers were dispatched to First Avenue near Waubansee Road on a report of a vehicle accident. Police saw a black pickup truck with driver-side damage on the sidewalk and in a grassy area near the road, a silver Chevrolet with significant damage on fire and a Tesla with deployed airbags. Police closed down traffic in both directions on First Avenue.
The driver of the Chevrolet told police he had been driving south on First Avenue when he “looked down for one second” before crashing into the black pickup truck, which had been heading north. When asked for his driver’s license and proof of insurance, the man gave police his state ID and said his insurance information was inside his car’s glove compartment. According to police, they could not reach it because the car was on fire.
Police ran the man’s information and learned he did not possess a valid driver’s license, so they placed him under arrest inside a Riverside squad car.
The driver of the pickup truck told police he was driving north when the Chevrolet went into the north traffic lane and struck his car in the left rear area, causing it to spin off the road. The man was traveling with his family in the car; his wife and son complained of head and shoulder injuries, so they were taken to the hospital with the man and his daughter in the ambulance.
Police also spoke with the driver of the Tesla, who said he had been driving north. After the Chevrolet struck the black pickup truck, it hit the front of the Tesla.
Police charged the driver of the Chevrolet for driving without a valid license, operating an uninsured car, improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. He was released on pretrial conditions with a court date set. Police had all three cars towed from the scene of the crash.
Hit-and-run on a school bus
Brookfield police responded to a report of a hit-and-run on June 10 after a car struck a school bus. No one was injured or later arrested.
Around 8:08 a.m., an officer responded to the 4500 block of Prairie Avenue and met with the bus driver, who said the bus’s right mirror had been struck by a white truck heading south while the bus was parked. The truck continued south before turning east onto 47th Street, they said. The driver told police the bus company was already contacting the parents and guardians of the children on board.
The driver also told police a camera on the bus may have captured footage of the strike and gave the officer contact information for the company manager.
On June 13, the manager sent police the footage, which showed a white Dodge truck striking the bus. Police searched video surveillance footage from the area and identified the truck’s license plate number, from which they learned the registered owner.
Police called the owner, who answered alongside his son, who confirmed he had been driving the car when it hit the bus mirror. He said the mirror had been protruding into the traffic lane. The officer told the son the severity of leaving a crash without trying to help or provide his information, and the truck owner agreed to send insurance information, which police received the next day.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated June 14-17 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated June 9-16; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
