Background: News footage of surveillance video of Jenni Fischer”s vehicle from the night of the alleged hit-and-run (WTMJ). Inset: Jenni Fischer (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office).
A Wisconsin woman who allegedly tried to file a false insurance claim for her vehicle has been arrested in connection with a hit-and-run.
Jenni Fischer, 24, was charged with hit-and-run involving great bodily harm on Dec. 10 in connection with a collision earlier this month that left a 26-year-old Lyft driver in a coma. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, police tracked down the suspect vehicle after Fischer allegedly tried to file an insurance claim on her Jeep SUV two days after the collision. In the claim, Fischer stated that she saw the right side of her vehicle “smashed,” with its windshield “cracked” and rearview mirror “broken” when she left her workplace and returned to the parking lot.
Surveillance video from the night of the crash, which allegedly showed Fischer’s Jeep as it “sideswiped” the Lyft driver, told a different story about the purported damage.
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According to the criminal complaint, the Milwaukee Police Department responded to the scene of the crash at 8:40 p.m. on Dec. 1. Several people called 911 to report that a pedestrian, later identified as the Lyft driver, was struck by a vehicle in an apparent hit-and-run. The driver was “not conscious but was breathing” and had “severe trauma” to his head. He was transported to a local hospital.
Police stated that the driver had undergone two brain surgeries since the collision and was “in a coma, but his condition is worsening.”
Authorities said the driver’s side door of the alleged victim’s white Nissan Sentra was “mangled and crushed backwards,” consistent with the vehicle being “sideswiped” by another vehicle. Evidence of the suspect vehicle was found at the scene. After viewing surveillance video that captured the moment of impact, investigators determined that the suspect vehicle was a white or gray SUV with only its running lights on.
Closer inspection of the surveillance video pointed to the suspect vehicle being a Jeep Compass. Investigators searched for insurance claims made for a Jeep Compass in recent days and found one made on Dec. 3, two days after the crash. The VIN provided for the Jeep in question was tracked back to Fischer. But that claim required a police report.
When Milwaukee Police Department officers looked into reports filed with the department, they found one through the Citizen Online Reporting portal, which is meant to be used for minor crimes such as theft or vandalism, not motor vehicle crashes. Police found a report matching the number Fischer provided to the insurance company, filed on Dec. 2, the day after the crash.
According to the complaint, Fischer wrote in the report that she came out of work on Dec. 1 and found her Jeep damaged in the parking lot.
The allegedly false police report led officers to Fischer’s home address. Police obtained surveillance video footage from the parking structure connected with the address and saw the gray Jeep, with just its running lights on, entering the structure and pull into a spot at 8:41 p.m. on Dec. 1. A blonde woman in a green coat, later identified as Fischer, appears on the video “having difficulty” walking up a flight of stairs and “coming in contact with both sides of the staircase at various points in time.” Fischer also dropped her keys as she tried to enter the building’s lobby.
While in the lobby, Fischer reportedly “lean[ed] against the wall” until an elevator arrived.
The next morning, Fischer was seen walking back to her Jeep and “[did] not appear to have difficulty walking down the stairs.”
On Dec. 6, police went to an address belonging to Fischer’s parents. Fischer’s mother confirmed that her daughter had been involved in a car crash, but cited the story from the allegedly false police report. She brought the officers to a barn where Fischer’s Jeep was parked. Officers found damage consistent with the crash as well as white paint from the Lyft driver’s Nissan. The Jeep was towed as evidence.
Officers showed Fischer’s mother the surveillance video from the collision, to which she responded, “Jesus Christ.” She told police to cancel the insurance claim made by her daughter “as it was not true.”
Both Fischer’s mother and father identified their daughter as the woman in the green coat. Fischer was arrested at her parents’ house on Dec. 7.
Fischer was booked into the Milwaukee County Jail and charged with hit-and-run involving great bodily harm and making a fraudulent insurance claim. After a court hearing on Dec. 11, her bond was set at $20,000 cash. Her next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17.
