A traffic crash near Merrill ends a police chase, leaving one man dead and his three-week-old daughter in the hospital. Police say the 24-year-old man was trying to elude officers late Tuesday afternoon, when he hit another vehicle and veered off the road during the chase.
The Wisconsin Justice Department had put out a statewide crime alert for the man, after he reportedly took his three-week-old daughter in violation of a court order. The infant was born drug-dependent and was under the court-ordered care of the Taylor County Human Services agency.
The baby and an 18-year-old passenger were in the vehicle during the crash, but were not seriously hurt. They were taken to a Merrill hospital for treatment.
The names of those involved were not immediately released. The crash investigation and reconstruction is being done by Wisconsin State Patrol and Marathon County Sheriff’s Department, since Lincoln County was in pursuit of the vehicle when it crashed.
Raymond Neupert, WSAU