DAILY REGISTER VIDEO: Alleged car thief crashes after short chase through Portage

Video provided by Portage Police Department, Portage, Wis.
(The Daily Register has cut part of this video for content and duration.)

By Shannon Green

Daily Register

An alleged car thief crashed his vehicle into a building early Sunday, injuring himself, following a short chase after he was interrupted in the act by a Portage police officer.

William M. Walkowitz, 44, of Portage, faces tentative charges of drunken driving, eluding an officer, driving a stolen vehicle, and driving without a driver's license, according to Assistant Chief Kevin O'Neill.

According to a police report, the would-be thief triggered the alarm shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday on a Chrysler minivan parked in the lot of Steve's Auto Repair, 101 DeWitt St.

The alarm happened to be within hearing distance of night shift officer Robert J. Bagnall, parked in a squad car at DeWitt and Wisconsin streets doing paperwork.

When Bagnall, in his squad car, approached the parking lot for the auto repair business, a Nissan Sentra pulled out in front of him, heading down DeWitt Street.

Walkowitz, who received nonlife-threatening injuries, was taken by Divine Savior EMS to Divine Savior Healthcare, where he later regained consciousness. He now is in the Columbia County Jail.

It's not Walkowitz's first run-in with the law. Read more about the chase, Walkowitz and how the officer happened to find the car at www.portagedailyregister.com.

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