January 31, 2024 – Washington Co., WI – A 17-year-old Town of Farmington male was charged as an adult and released from custody on a $10,000 signature bond in Washington County Circuit Court on Monday with Second Degree Reckless Endangering Safety and Fleeing, both felonies.
He was also cited for marijuana/paraphernalia possession. Dresden Fritsch was arrested early Saturday morning after Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies attempted to stop him.
A patrol sergeant was driving on I41 in the Village of Germantown when he observed a car approaching him from behind at a high rate of speed around 1:30 am.
As the car approached the squad the speed reduced drastically. The squad exited USH 45 near Pioneer Road and re-entered the highway immediately and observed that the vehicle had again drastically increased speed. Dresden’s car was paced at 90 mph.
When the deputy attempted to make a traffic stop on the car, he rapidly increased his speed.
The deputy’s squad was operating at around 125 mph and the suspect continued to pull away northbound on USH 45. The deputy lost sight of the car until he approached the STH 33 exit in the City of West Bend.
The deputy observed Dresden attempted to navigate a right turn onto STH 33 but was unable to do so because of his excessive speed. The vehicle collided with the median barrier and went into the oncoming lane of STH 33.
The car continued to drive the wrong way down STH 33, however, the speeds were much slower based on damage the vehicle sustained from driving over the median. The vehicle stopped, and Dresden was taken into custody without further incident by deputies.
Two juvenile passengers and one adult passenger were also found to be in the vehicle. Two of the passengers were cited for underage alcohol and released to their parents.
Dresden who was convicted of OWI in October of 2023 in an unrelated matter, was operating well outside his occupational license restrictions at the time of this latest arrest.
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis spoke on this incident. “Unfortunately, southeast Wisconsin has experienced several horrific tragedies in the past couple of months related directly to reckless driving and the refusal to stop for law enforcement. Law enforcement must conduct a balancing test when determining whether to pursue it or not.
“This balancing test requires public safety officials to balance the need to capture with the level of risk the pursuit is causing the public. Often this means that these perpetrators escape capture because we choose to not pursue it. The entire criminal justice system needs to respond accordingly to those who show complete and utter disregard for human life by driving in this manner.
“The punitive measures taken should be to the level that those who have been caught will think otherwise next time and serve as a deterrent for those who may in the future.”
According to the directive of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3.6, Trial Publicity, a charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.
