Distraught Ex-Husband Threatens to Run Car into Brick Wall

A 43-year-old Milwaukee man is facing charges after he led police on a short high speed chase through Sussex while he planned to drive his car into a brick wall.

Leonard J. Schwechel was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court Monday with one count of failure to obey a traffic signal and one count of disorderly conduct. If convicted, he faces up to one year in prison and $11,000 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

At 1:43 a.m. July 5, officers were called to a residence in the W24200 block of Main Street after he showed up at his ex-wife’s home after he had been told several days earlier to not return. Schwechel told officers he had been at a Milwaukee Brewers game earlier in the day with his ex-wife and thought he was invited to the residence. He said he had gone there because he thought she was seeing someone else and he wanted to catch her “in the act.”

Schwechel left the home, but then called his son on his cell phone while officers were taking a written statement from the son.

His son handed the phone to the officer, who Schwechel told he was “going to do something stupid.” He refused to tell the officer where he was and hung up, but then called back and told his wife he was on Silver Spring Road near Lannon Road, and was driving back to the residence.

Officers spotted Schwechel driving westbound on Silver spring, but when they tried to pull him over, he continued to drive and eventually sped up to about 80 mph. After passing on to Main Street from Silver Spring, Schwechel then pulled over.

The complaint states he told officers he hadn’t seen their lights on and had been on the phone with his ex-wife to tell her he was going to kill himself and was planning to run his car into a brick wall.

Schwechel is free from Waukesha County Jail on a $2,500 signature bond.