A quiet stretch of road near the Mukwonago River got a lot less quiet early Monday morning after a stolen truck chase ended with the vehicle submerged in the water and the driver in handcuffs. The whole thing kicked off around 3:15 a.m. when a Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office deputy tried to pull over a truck that had been reported stolen out of Madison. Instead of pulling over like a reasonable person, the driver hit the gas.
What followed was a chase that stretched from Interstate 94 all the way to Mukwonago, with police radio traffic clocking the truck at 115 miles per hour at one point. For context, that is faster than most stock cars go around some short tracks, except this was happening on public roads in the middle of the night with real consequences if anything went wrong.
By around 4:15 a.m., the chase reached its soggy conclusion when the truck left the roadway and ended up in the Mukwonago River near a dam, according to TMJ 4. If you are picturing a dramatic splash, you are not alone. A nearby resident, Amber Saunders, actually caught the moment on her home security camera and said you can see the truck’s headlight right as it goes into the water.
As if driving a stolen truck into a river was not enough excitement for one morning, the suspect apparently decided his best move was to hop out and make a run for it. Saunders said she heard him take off running, presumably soaked and not thinking things through very clearly.
A Neighborhood Not Used To This Kind Of Action
Saunders described her road as normally being about as exciting as watching paint dry, joking that her quiet little street apparently is not so quiet anymore. It is a fair point.
Most people who live near a dam and a slow moving river expect their biggest excitement to be a good bass bite, not a stolen truck doing an impression of a submarine.
Fishing Interrupted By A Manhunt
Karen Glass was out fishing at the dam when she found out what had happened. Her reaction pretty much sums up what most of us would think. She said the guy must have been desperate to go off-road and then try to escape into the water on top of it.
Hard to argue with that logic.
K9 And Drone Team Up For The Catch
Deputies did not have to look far. Using a K9 unit and a drone, they tracked the man down not far from where the truck went into the river.
In a twist that feels almost too fitting, he was caught directly across the street from the Mukwonago Police Station. Sometimes the universe has a sense of humor.
Truck Recovered, Suspect Facing Charges
The 38-year-old man is now under arrest and awaiting charges.
The truck has since been pulled from the river and towed away, presumably needing a lot more than a car wash before it runs again.