Milwaukee electric scooter incident, alderman questions safety
MILWAUKEE - After a recent incident involving an electric Lime scooter hitting and seriously injuring a man in downtown Milwaukee, the district's alderman said he wants answers – and questions whether the city should continue allowing them at all.
Scooter safety concerns
What they're saying:
Electric scooters first started in the city back in 2019.
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"We’ve been waiting on summer for I don’t know how long, so it’s just the scenery," said Robert Kendall. "The lake, the buildings. I like to come out and take scooters by the lake, go play volleyball, see the water, stuff like that."
Lime electric scooters in Milwaukee
Kendall isn't a frequent Lime scooter rider, but frequent enough that he recognizes some of the issues for pedestrians.
"It’s hard, you’re walking, and you see somebody go past you, it’s like, ‘Oh, Jesus.’ I agree with it. I think we should slow it down and be careful, to prevent stuff like that from happening. I wouldn’t be mad at it," Kendall said.
Public safety meeting
What they're saying:
Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman suggested a potential solution to mitigate the danger.
"By reducing the speed limit, even if more people come onto the sidewalks, at 5 mph you’re likely to create less damage, threat, less potential for injury than riding sidewalks at 15 mph," Bauman said.
Milwaukee City Hall
Curbing the speeds is just one item on Thursday's agenda for the Public Safety and Health Committee. It is part of legislation put forward by Bauman, looking for answers from the city's Department of Public Works, which manages the contract for Lime scooters in the city. The legislation proposes increasing the fine for riding on sidewalks from a range of $10 to $20 – to a range of $100 to $200.
"Obviously, that’s sort of an academic exercise, because if they’re not issuing citations, you can make the fine any amount," Bauman said. "It’s irrelevant if no one is being charged."
The other side:
FOX6 News reached out to Lime for comment but did not hear back with a response to questions by the deadline for this story.
Criminal case
The backstory:
On Wednesday, a court commissioner bound 20-year-old Jonpierre Cherry over for trial. He is charged with second-degree reckless injury.
Prosecutors said Cherry was riding a Lime scooter on a sidewalk when he hit a man leaving a bar near King Drive and State Street last month, leaving the man with broken ribs, a broken ankle and a fractured spine.
Milwaukee Lime Scooter crash, 1 injured; man criminally charged
A man has been criminally charged in connection to a Lime Scooter crash in downtown Milwaukee that left a person seriously injured.
Officer Don Thompson of the Milwaukee Police Department was called to the stand during state questioning in a preliminary hearing for Cherry.
"When I arrived on scene, he could barely move," Thompson said of the victim.
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It is just one recent incident giving Bauman pause.
"I’m starting to be concerned that the city is ready for micro transit," Bauman said.
The concern from Bauman about that relates to the lack of city-wide infrastructure to support it – such as protected bike lanes – which costs a considerable sum of money.
Editor's note: This story was updated with a correction.
The Source: FOX6 News reviewed the public safety meeting, interviewed Bauman and Kendall, was in court for the preliminary hearing, reached out to Lime for comment and referenced prior coverage.