Inset: Walter “Wally” Williams (WISN). Background: The area in Milwaukee where Williams was struck and killed in a hit-and-run last week (WISN).
A 55-year-old Wisconsin man was arrested after he allegedly struck and killed a cyclist while speeding in his pickup truck, drove away, then called 911 and tried to claim the vehicle had been stolen. Authorities have not publicly identified the driver or the charges he will face in connection with Friday’s hit-and-run that killed Walter “Wally” Williams.
The crash happened just after 5:30 p.m. near North 17th Street and West Vliet Street, where 64-year-old Williams was riding his bicycle across Vliet Street when he was struck by a pickup traveling north, according to a report from Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN.
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Williams suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene despite a bystander’s efforts to save him. Court filings cited by Milwaukee Fox affiliate WITI state that a 911 caller who identified themselves as a medical student performed CPR until emergency crews arrived.
Police located the suspected vehicle later that evening and arrested a 55-year-old man.
In a Facebook post confirming the arrest, the Milwaukee Police Department said: “Surveillance video and Flock cameras helped police track down a suspect in a fatal hit and run.”
According to court filings cited by WITI, investigators first obtained a description of the pickup from nearby surveillance video. They then used the city’s Flock camera system to locate a vehicle matching both the description and license plate after it was captured near Washington Park just minutes after the collision.
The filings further state that about 30 minutes after the crash, a man who lived only blocks from the intersection called police to report that his pickup truck had been stolen while he was working on it outside his home. Investigators determined that the timeline he provided did not match the evidence they had gathered.
Family members later identified the victim as Walter Williams, describing him as a devoted father who loved spending his free time riding his bicycle.
“How could you treat anybody that way? How could you hit someone in broad daylight and not even stop?” Williams’ daughter, Temeria Hubbard, told WISN from her home in Chicago.
“He rode that bike everywhere; nothing stopped him. He just loved to be free,” she said.
Hubbard said the suspect’s arrest does little to ease the family’s grief.
“He went through a lot, fighting cancer and everything, and this is how he leaves me; it’s so unfair,” she told the station.
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