Driver charged with multiple offenses following crash
A driver who allegedly fled from a deputy at more than 100 mph, careened through the center of a roundabout and crashed into a digital message board in the Town of Dover has been charged with multiple offenses, including recklessly endangering safety.
Joseph Grana, 32, of Racine, is also charged with attempting to flee or elude an officer, criminal damage to property, possession of drug paraphernalia, operating with a controlled substance in his blood, operating while intoxicated causing injury and reckless driving causing injury in Racine County Circuit Court. All the charges are filed with a repeater enhancer due to Grana’s conviction history.
Grana remained in the Racine County Jail on Tuesday where he has been held pending release on $25,000 cash bond. He made his initial appearance in court Thursday where a commissioner found probable cause to proceed with the charges.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Aug. 20.
According to the criminal complaint, a Racine County Sheriff’s deputy encountered Grana traveling 57 mph in a 35 mph zone as he went north on Highway 75 in Kansasville. The deputy began to follow, intending to conduct a traffic stop, but noted Grana was pulling away at a high rate of speed.
“The deputy increased his speed to over 70 mph but was not gaining on the speeding car,” the complaint alleges.
The deputy, who himself reached 119 mph, estimates Grana was traveling at more than 100 mph as well, according to the complaint.
During the pursuit, the deputy noted Grana’s vehicle swerving across the center line and the fog line several times.
As the chase approached the intersection with Highway 20, Grana’s vehicle was unable to slow down to sufficiently navigate the roundabout and careened up the curb and over the center portion of the roundabout before continuing north on Highway S, according to the complaint.
Grana allegedly drove around construction barricades on Highway S and in the process lost control and drove off the east side of the highway, crashing over another curb, the parkway area and the sidewalk. As Grana attempted to re-enter the highway, his vehicle struck a digital message board, knocking it over before his vehicle came to a stop about 15 yards further north, according to the complaint.
Smoke was billowing from the vehicle as the deputy approached and Grana rolled out of the car and onto the ground as if he was injured. A female passenger complained of knee and arm pain, according to the complaint.
The deputy attempted to interview Grana, who had no apparent injuries, and noticed signs of impairment.
“Grana was slumped over and seemed barely able to answer questions without nearly falling asleep,” the complaint alleges.
Grana was transported to Ascension Hospital-Racine. While there, a deputy administered field sobriety tests and then placed him under arrest for operating while intoxicated, according to the complaint.
Grana allegedly admitted that a marijuana pipe found in the door of his vehicle was his, but he denied smoking pot or using any other drugs that day, according the complaint.
After agreeing to an evidentiary blood draw, Grana was released by the hospital and transported to the Racine County Jail.
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