Racine County police chase, drug arrest; Kenosha man in custody
MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. - A 31-year-old man from Kenosha is in police custody following a traffic stop that led to police chase in Mount Pleasant late on Sunday, April 21. Officials with the Racine County Sheriff's Office identified the man in custody in a news release as Lamar Hackett.
Officials say shortly before midnight on Sunday, a Racine County sheriff's deputy was monitoring traffic at Highway 31 near Biscayne Avenue. The deputy spotted a silver Mercedes-Benz traveling northbound at a high rate of speed. The deputy measured the vehicle’s speed at 80 mph in a 35-mph zone.
A news release says as soon as the driver of the Mercedes, identified as Hackett, saw the marked squad, he immediately decreased his speed and stopped the vehicle in the left turn lane to turn onto Biscayne. The vehicle stopped in the turn lane for approximately 30 seconds. The deputy positioned his squad car behind the vehicle and activated the squad’s emergency lights. The driver turned the vehicle onto Biscayne Avenue and came to a stop.
Once stopped, Hackett immediately swung open the driver’s door and began to exit the vehicle. The deputy ordered Hackett back into the vehicle, and he complied. The news release says Hackett asked the deputy the reason for the stop, and the deputy answered, speeding. The deputy informed Hackett that he could smell marijuana coming from the interior of the vehicle. Hackett stated that was just how the car smelled, and Hackett asked if the deputy was going to search the vehicle. The deputy responded in the affirmative, and Hackett responded, "Dang for real, I got open liquor in here, you’re gonna do me like that?"
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Hackett told the deputy he wanted a ticket and to get going -- and the deputy stated he could not do that. When the deputy told Hackett to "hang tight", Hackett placed the vehicle into drive and drove off at a high rate of speed.
The deputy chased the vehicle which refused to stop. Hackett went northbound on S. Green Bay Road and then turned westbound on South Drive. When Hackett quickly got to the dead end of South Drive, he crashed the vehicle into the woods. As the deputy was giving commands and drawing his weapon, Hackett ran into the woods.
Officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, the City of Racine Police Department, and other sheriff’s deputies immediately responded to the area and set up a perimeter.
With the help of a drone flown by a Racine police officer, law enforcement was able to track Hackett as he fled through a field, ran through a swamp and then hid in a tent in the woods.
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A Mount Pleasant officer, who was assisting a K-9 team that was tracking Hackett, located a baggie of drugs that Hackett discarded in an open field.
At 12:34 a.m., Hackett was arrested.
