2008AP2759-CR State v. Hanson

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Eluding an Officer
Sufficiency of the evidence

A defendant can be guilty of eluding an officer even if he was driving to a police station.
“Here, Hanson contends that the State could not prove that he was ‘knowingly fleeing or attempting to elude’ the police. We understand Hanson to argue that there can be no fleeing-and-eluding charge if police know that he is going to stop his vehicle at a police station. The theory is simply that he cannot be fleeing and eluding police if he calls 911 and tells the police where he is going. However, the plain language of Wis. Stat. § 346.04 undermines Hanson’s position. While Hanson speaks generally of fleeing ‘the police,’ the statute expressly makes it a violation of the law to elude ‘any traffic officer.’ Sec. 346.04(3). We agree with the State that the objectives of the statute are readily discerned from its language. It seeks to foster cooperation with individual officers at the time of the initial stop while also discouraging unsafe driving. Thus, as long as Hanson, after having received a visual or audible signal from a traffic officer or marked police vehicle, fled or attempted to elude that officer, it makes no difference under § 346.04(3) that he was fleeing to a police station. We therefore turn to whether there was sufficient evidence at trial to support Hanson’s conviction for eluding an officer.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2008AP2759-CR State v. Hanson

Dist. II, Kenosha County, Warren, J., Neubauer, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Lanning, Chad A., West Bend; For Respondent: Zapf, Robert D., Kenosha; St. John, Rebecca Rapp, Madison

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