When a pothole injures a squad car, do the police report the pothole? | Opinion

If a police car is knocked out of service by a pothole while pursuing a reckless driver, do you think the police report that pothole? That’s a half-joking, half-serious question. Fortunately, the police officers in this case weren’t injured, just their squad car.

Let’s face it, though. Living in Milwaukee means dealing with specific challenges while driving from one place to another. This include reckless drivers, people who ignore stop signs or red lights, and, especially this time of year: potholes.

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Road craters are not just a nuisance for citizens, they can disrupt police operations as happened just after 8 p.m. on April 16 when police were pursuing a black BMW that was driving recklessly on W. North Ave. and N. 18th St. The driver refused to stop. The pursuit ended when the squad car hit a pothole and became disabled on the 1000 block of N. 24th St. The suspect fled the scene, according to a report by the Urban Suburban Fire Incident Reporting site USFiR and MPD.

Squad car disabled by pothole draws multiple comments

Here is what some people had to say about the incident on the USFiR site:

“Damn, the city streets helped him get away. Maybe the government will do something about it now.” – Jonathan.

“Great. Now we have to pay for that car's suspension and ours.” – Matt.

“If it wrecks the cop car, imagine what it does to our cars that drive on it daily!!” – Kyle.

“How's that wheel tax working out?” – Scott

I can empathize with citizen frustration because I have encountered numerous potholes in the city this year. I’ve already replaced one tire and hit another deep pothole so hard that I immediately took my car to a repair shop to check the suspension. I snapped a picture of our puppy in a pothole on my block. The city fixed the problem following several complaints from neighbors.

Although some people may suggest that citizens should report potholes as soon as they see them, there are certain streets in our city that require complete replacement. Merely patching a pothole is only a temporary fix for a much larger issue. The state of our city streets is in urgent need of improvement.

Anyone with any information about the reckless driver is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7360. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-TIPS. To report a pothole or other street maintenance problem, call the City United Call Center at (414) 286-2489 or click on this link to the city's website.

Reach James E. Causey at jcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X@jecausey.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Reckless driver escapes from police after squad hits a pothole