A Racine man accused of severely injuring a Walworth County sheriff’s deputy who was deploying stop sticks in the Town of Spring Prairie on Aug. 1 pleaded guilty April 25 to five of the seven charges against him.
A status conference is scheduled for Aug. 3 for Tony Perales, 26, an unlicensed driver who was fleeing from police when deputy Wayne Blanchard was injured.
Perales pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless injury, fleeing from an officer resulting in great bodily harm, knowingly operate a motor vehicle without a valid license causing great bodily harm, felony bail jumping and injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle. Charges of injury by use of a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration and injury by use of a vehicle with a restricted controlled substance in his system were dismissed.
According to the criminal complaint, a sheriff’s deputy saw a car traveling too fast to safely negotiate a curve at Elkhorn Road and George Street in Lake Geneva at about 1:10 a.m. Aug. 1. As the vehicle approached the squad car, it was traveling 62 mph in a 25-mph zone, according to the complaint.
The deputy pursued the car and caught up to it as it was traveling 58 mph in a 35-mph zone, failing to stop at stop signs and driving recklessly through roundabouts at highways 120 and 12, traveling over both lanes and nearly striking both curbs, according to the complaint.
The deputy activated the squad car’s emergency lights and siren on Highway 120 near Emagine Theatre, but the car accelerated and continued north on 120 crossing the fog line, running stop signs and traveling at more than 100 mph, the complaint states.
Blanchard set up spike strips on Highway 120 in the area of Kniep Road as the car approached that area at 113 mph with its headlights extinguished, according to the complaint. The pursuing deputy saw a large dust cloud, and it appeared the car spun and crashed just past Kniep Road, the complaint states.
At the scene, the car’s airbags had been deployed, and the car’s passenger side and a guardrail had extensive damage, according to the complaint. Blanchard’s squad car was parked in the area with its emergency lights activated, but Blanchard could not be seen and was not responding to his radio, the complaint states.
Blanchard was found in the ditch near the damaged guardrail. He was conscious but seriously injured with a severe laceration to his face, teeth missing, hands severely broken with visible bones and tendons and at least one of his legs visibly broken, according to the complaint.
Based on accident reconstruction, police believe Blanchard deployed the stop sticks, took position behind the guardrail on the east side of Highway 120 and was injured when the fleeing vehicle struck the guardrail, the complaint states.
Perales smelled like alcohol, had bloodshot, glassy eyes and admitted driving and not having a driver’s license, according to the complaint. A passenger was in the car as well.
He was under bond conditions on Racine County charges of substantial battery, disorderly conduct and four counts of felony bail jumping.
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