Subject: Stolen Vehicle Recovery and Arrest
Incident: FP19-0001914
Incident Date: 2/10/2019
Date of Media Release: 2/11/2019
By: Sergeant Edward Hartwick
Arrested Subject: Jermaine L. Coleman, 17, of Madison
Charges: Operating vehicle without owner’s consent, hit & run and bail jumping
Details:
Around 7:00 p.m., on Sunday, February 10, 2019, Fitchburg Police officers were alerted a Dane County Sheriff's Deputy, along with a sergeant from the Village of Belleville Police Department, were following two stolen vehicles headed into the City of Fitchburg. The deputy following the vehicles had yet to activate their emergency lights when the two vehicles began rapidly accelerating and running red lights.
A short time later, one of the stolen vehicles struck another vehicle on McKee Road near Seminole Highway. The stolen vehicle, a 2018 Ford F150 truck, continued driving and the driver who had been struck was able to follow the stolen truck.
With the assistance of the driver who had been struck, officers were able to locate the stolen truck abandoned near the intersection of Stamford Place and Kinsale Drive. The Fitchburg Police K9 Unit immediately began to track the suspect who fled the truck.
While K9 Drago was tracking the suspect, another Fitchburg officer stopped a male walking on Richardson Street near McKee Road. K9 Drago eventually tracked to the exact location the male, identified as Jermaine L. Coleman, was found.
Coleman was arrested and booked into the Dane County Jail for operating a vehicle without owner’s consent*, hit & run, and felony bail jumping. He was also cited for several traffic offenses.
Investigating officers learned:
- The series of events began around 6:30 p.m. in the village of Belleville when a caller reported their vehicle had been stolen. A Belleville police sergeant had observed a suspicious truck, later determined to be the recovered stolen truck, in the area where the vehicle was stolen. A short time later, the sergeant saw the truck again and began following it along with another vehicle that was possibly involved. It was determined the vehicle with the truck had been stolen in another jurisdiction and was not the vehicle stolen in Belleville.
- The truck recovered in Fitchburg was reported stolen from the City of Middleton on February 7, 2019.
No injuries were reported as a result of the minor collision involving the stolen truck. The other stolen vehicles, including the one reported stolen in Belleville and the one seen driving with the truck, were not located.
Deputies from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office, officers from the City of Verona Police Department, the City of Middleton Police Department and the Village of Belleville Police Department assisted in the investigation.
*Operating vehicle without owner’s consent is the Wisconsin State Statute (943.23) that includes several crimes related to vehicle theft including the taking of vehicles, as well as driving and riding in stolen vehicles.