A man who allegedly killed University of Wisconsin senior Shanica Adkins with his car in Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve was arrested Sunday.
According to the criminal complaint signed by Assistant District Attorney Denis Stingl, Officers Matthew Drought and Dean Lidwin were approaching the intersection of North 35th Street and West Center Street when they noticed a white Mercury Mountaineer with no front license plate, allegedly driven by Johnny Jones, 31, of Kenosha.
The officers got behind the Mountaineer and activated their red and blue emergency lights. When the Mountaineer sped up, the officers turned on their sirens.The report said the Mountaineer continued to accelerate and the officers decided the road conditions were too dangerous to continue pursuit.
Drought said in the report after he and Lidwin stopped pursuing the Mountaineer it continued to speed up. He saw the Mountaineer drive through a red light and hit the passenger side of a green Geo Prism, which contained Adkins and her boyfriend, Donta Brown.
After the Mountaineer came to a stop 108 feet later, Jones got out of the car and ran, as did passengers Sean Moore and Maria Barber. Moore was apprehended shortly after.
According to a report from Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office Investigator Genevieve Penn, Adkins was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to the report, Jones took the Mountaineer from his soon to be ex-wife Kim Thomas without her knowledge.
According to the complaint, Moore said in an interview he and Jones were at a nightclub before the accident. Moore said in the report he and Jones left with a woman he did not know.
Moore claimed when the police turned their sirens on, he and the woman urged Jones to pull over.
“Fuck that shit, I’m out of here,” Jones said, according to the report.
Moore added he ran after the accident because he was scared.
Jones is set to appear for a preliminary hearing Jan. 28. He is charged with second-degree reckless homicide, hit-and-run resulting in death and hit-and-run involving great bodily harm.
A memorial service will be held for Adkins Monday at Tripp Commons in Memorial Union. The event will take place from 10-11:30 a.m.
