A 47-year-old Wauwatosa man, the driver in fatal one-car crash in Muskego, will face felony charges of first-degree reckless homicide and hit-and-run involving the death of his 77-year-old mother.
Casey Yiannackopoulos made his initial appearance in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Nov. 4, two days after authorities say he crashed his car into a ditch off Hillendale Drive. The wreck badly injured his mother, a passenger in the vehicle, who was left behind when Yiannackopoulos ran off on foot before police arrived.
According to the criminal complaint and Muskego Police statements, witnesses saw Yiannackopoulos’s vehicle back out of a driveway in the 7200 block of Hillendale Drive near Maple Court and then rapidly accelerate at about 7:15 p.m. Nov. 2. The vehicle then suddenly veered into a ditch, crashed and rolled onto its passenger side, trapping the woman.
Witnesses told police that Yiannackopoulos climbed out of the vehicle and ran off, claiming he was “going to get help,” after telling them the trapped woman was his mother. When police and rescuers arrived, they worked to free the woman from the car.
Paramedics treated her at the scene before she was taken to Froedtert Hospital, where she died an hour later. Meanwhile, police began searching for the driver. They first searched the nearby home — which online tax records indicate was his mother’s home — from which his vehicle had been seen backing out of the driveway.
Yiannackopoulos was eventually found hiding in crawl space, covered in blankets, inside the residence. Police and witnesses said he showed signs of intoxication, with authorities adding that he struggled with officers during his arrest.
Muskego police had indicated on Nov. 3 that they had referred two potential alcohol-related charges — homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and third-offense operating while intoxicated — to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office.
However, notably, Yiannackopoulos has not been charged with any alcohol-related offenses in the four-count criminal complaint, which also includes misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer and obstructing an officer. But he was cited for refusing to take an intoxication test after arrest, a license forfeiture offense. A blood test was later administered at ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital, the results of which were not included in the criminal complaint.
According to online court records, Yiannackopoulos was previously convicted of second-offense operating while intoxicated in 2012 after he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail, with Huber release privileges for work and child care.
Yiannackopoulos is being held in the Waukesha County Jail on a $750,000 cash bond. A hearing was set for Nov. 6 to determine who will represent him in court on the criminal charges and to determine if he is eligible for a public defender.
If he is convicted on the most serious count, first-degree reckless homicide, he could face a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison.
Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Reckless homicide charge filed in fatal crash that killed driver’s mother in Muskego
Reporting by Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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