Milwaukee man charged in crash that killed 2 at 27th and St. Paul
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A 24-year-old Milwaukee man has been charged in a crash that killed a Muskego couple at 27th and W. St. Paul Avenue Tuesday, April 23.
Papa Diallo faces the following charges:
- First degree reckless homicide (two counts)
- Vehicle operator flee/elude officer resulting in the death of another (two counts)
- First degree recklessly endangering safety
- Bail jumping (two counts)
According to a criminal complaint, a Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy was on routine patrol near the Mitchell Park Domes when he attempted to stop a Ford Focus with no license plates that had drifted over the fog line.
The deputy stated that after activating his lights and siren, the vehicle - later determined to be driven by Diallo- accelerated away from him, swerving into the opposite lanes of the 27th St. viaduct "in order to maneuver around other northbound traffic" and flee. The deputy reported seeing the Ford Focus continue to flee northbound on 27th Street toward the intersection at W. St. Paul Avenue, when the vehicle went through a red light at a high rate of speed and collided with two other vehicles.
The complaint says video from a nearby gas station shows the Ford Focus disregard the red light and strike the driver's side of a Toyota Camry traveling westbound on W. St. Paul Avenue. The Camry then collides into a brick column at the gas station and the Ford Focus strikes a Buick Enclave stopped at the red light in the southbound lanes of 27th Street.
Detectives reviewed squad camera footage which indicated the deputy was traveling at a rate of approximately 70 miles per hour just before the collision, in a 30-mph zone.
Sixty-nine-year-old John Zablocki, the passenger in the Toyota Camry, died at the scene. The driver of the Camry, identified by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office as 65-year-old Barbara Zablocki, died Thursday at an area hospital. Autopsies revealed both deaths occurred due to blunt force injuries. The sheriff's office says the driver of the Buick suffered minor injuries.
Diallo was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Prosecutors say a nurse located a handgun in his pocket and a small amount of marijuana.
Records show Diallo was released from custody in a separate Waukesha County case - for fleeing, causing bodily harm and second degree recklessly endangering safety - in October of 2023 on $3,000 cash bail.
The complaint says his driver's license was indefinitely revoked on Feb. 19, 2024, and has not been reinstated since.