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Four Milwaukee police officers have been suspended for failure to fully investigate the hit-and-run crash that killed Navy veteran Nicholas Rozanski last fall, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.

Britney M. Wilkinson, 24, of Milwaukee, the driver of the car that collided with Rozanski's moped, was allowed to plead no contest to two misdemeanors last month because Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams feared the substandard police work would make it difficult to prove a felony at trial.

One officer was suspended for three days, another officer was suspended for two days, and two more officers were suspended for one day each, according to Anne E. Schwartz, Milwaukee police spokeswoman. She would not release the officers' names or describe the specific misconduct that led to the discipline.

Rozanski's stepfather, Jim Bacon, said the short suspensions don't do enough to hold the officers accountable for botching the investigation.

"If they had done their job there would have been justice. As it is, there was no justice," he said.

The crash occurred around 3 a.m. Sept. 11 near the intersection of S. 1st and W. Florida streets. After Rozanski, 35, was knocked from his moped, Wilkinson left the scene for between 20 and 45 minutes, according to a criminal complaint. She drove nearly four miles to a gas station, where she called her boyfriend. He picked her up and drove her back to the crash site. After talking briefly with police - telling them she had two flat tires and her brakes didn't work - Wilkinson was allowed to go home.

It is against the law to leave the scene of a wreck, even for a short time. If injuries are nonexistent or minor, it is considered a misdemeanor. If serious injury or death results, it is a felony.

According to the accident report, the two officers who let Wilkinson go, Eric Fjeld and Sean McCord, did not conduct field sobriety tests, a breath test or a blood-alcohol test on Wilkinson, who is related to Milwaukee police officer Kelly D. Parker of District 4.

At the urging of a police accident reconstructionist, Wilkinson was arrested at her home about five hours after the wreck, according to Williams.

Wilkinson made several statements to police, telling them she had been to three different bars before the crash and drank 1½ Long Island iced teas early in the evening. She also admitted she was involved in the crash and drove away afterward. Detective Edwin Johnson, who interviewed Wilkinson at the jail, testified in November that he didn't immediately inform her of her right to remain silent and her right to an attorney.

An officer who spoke with Wilkinson at the scene didn't inform her of her rights, either, according to courtroom testimony.

Because of that, just one of Wilkinson's confessions - made after Johnson realized the mistake and read Wilkinson her rights - was allowed to be used against her in court.

Wilkinson's attorney, J. Kenyatta Riley, has said his client gave police no reason to believe she was intoxicated.

Schwartz acknowledged the numerous problems with the investigation but said Rozanski's blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit at the time of the crash and he failed to yield. None of the officers involved in the initial investigation knew about Wilkinson's relationship to Parker, she said.

Wilkinson originally was charged with hit-and-run involving death, which is a felony regardless of who was at fault or whether either driver was drinking. It carries a maximum possible prison term of 25 years. Last month, she entered a plea agreement that allowed her to plead no contest to two misdemeanors: reckless driving causing bodily harm and resisting and obstructing police. She faces a maximum penalty of just over two years in jail when she is sentenced March 28.