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There are times when you need a cop, and other times when calling the police may compound your troubles.

Aidan Keyes just learned the difference.

The 18-year-old was driving home to South Milwaukee from his girlfriend's house in Shorewood late at night last week. He was heading south on the Lake Parkway near Carferry Drive, and he wasn't speeding, he said.

"There was a fox walking in the road. I turned my wheel to stop myself from hitting it, and I hit my tire and wheel on the median," said Aidan, who is a senior at South Milwaukee High School.

The impact blew out the left-front tire and ruined the wheel of the family minivan. Aidan limped the vehicle to the side of the road and tried calling his parents. Their cells were turned off. Then he called his girlfriend, and her mother told him to call 911.

So he did. A Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy soon showed up and, apparently unsympathetic to the part about the fox, slapped Aidan with a citation for failure to control his vehicle.

Thanks to Aidan, the fox walked away unhurt. The punishment for Aidan's good deed is a fine of $216, plus four points off his license.

Hardly seems fair. I hope this isn't how the county is turning a budget deficit into a surplus.

"I thought that was pretty ridiculous. I'm getting ticketed for not hitting an animal," Aidan said.

By the way, Aidan didn't call me to complain about this. He mentioned it to a teacher, who contacted me.

His father, Nick Keyes, now wishes he had left his cell phone turned on that night. This tale offers one argument in favor of keeping your landline, I suppose.

"I told him, this is the sad truth. If you're not hurt and there's no other vehicle involved, calling the police is merely an invitation for trouble. They don't appreciate being hauled out there, so they gave him a ticket," Nick said. "Maybe they didn't believe him that he saw a fox, but there's plenty of foxes in Bay View."

"If I had talked to him, I would have told him right away, I'll be right there," the father said.

The 2005 Toyota Sienna was towed that night to a lot at 83rd and National in West Allis, Nick said. He and his son went to pick it up the next day. That cost $132.

They put on the spare tire and drove it to a Toyota dealer, where it remains still. Damage to the suspension and steering turned out to be $4,000, Nick said. Insurance will cover most of it.

The ticket is an additional burden the Keyes family doesn't need. They also found it odd that the deputy gave Aidan a ride to the corner of College and Pennsylvania avenues but not the remaining mile or two to his home at 3 a.m.

Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Capt. Aisha Barkow said the deputy dropped off Aidan at a well-lighted gas station and was told he would get a ride home from someone else. Aidan told me he walked the rest of the way.

Regarding the ticket, Barkow said it's the deputy's discretion, and in this instance he believed Aidan had over-steered and indeed failed to control the van.

Barkow said she's not questioning Aidan's story, but added, "We could have everyone saying they swerved to avoid some object." She also rejected the father's view (and mine) that calling law enforcement was the wrong choice. Safety is the most important consideration, she said.

A court date is set for May 5. If Aidan is able to appear in front of a reasonable traffic judge, there may be a way to outfox the Sheriff's Department yet.

More Stingl online Go to www.jsonline.com/video to see Jim Stingl's video columns. Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or e-mail at jstingl@journalsentinel.com