Tanya Weyker (right) is seen in a neck brace in April 2013 after Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph A. Quiles ran a stop sign and crashed into her car.who caused the crash that severely injured the Franklin woman. Credit: Photos courtesy of Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and Tanya Weyker

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A Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy who caused an on-duty crash that severely injured a Franklin woman last year should have been fired in 2007, according to Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.

But the county Personnel Review Board overruled the decision and instead suspended the deputy for 45 days.

The deputy, Joseph A. Quiles, has been investigated for off-duty road rage and was suspended for watching a movie in his squad car instead of monitoring traffic at a fatal accident scene, records show. And in the 2013 crash, a video showed he lied when he said he stopped at a stop sign.

As a result of injuries suffered in the crash, Quiles has filed for duty disability retirement, which would allow him to be paid a portion of his salary, tax-free, for life. His application is under medical review, a spokesman for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said last week.

Seven years ago, Clarke had sought to fire Quiles for falsifying records — something Quiles had previously been ordered not to do.

The 2007 incident marked the second time Quiles had asked a fellow deputy, whom he was dating at the time, to fill out the details on a pre-signed citation form and submit it for him.

A year earlier, a sergeant had warned him against doing exactly the same thing. The sheriff sought Quiles' firing in 2007 because he did not follow the supervisor's directive.

The Personnel Review Board opted not to fire him after concluding that he had not defied the sergeant's order willfully.

Earlier in 2007, Quiles received a three-day suspension when he was caught by supervisors watching a portable DVD player in his squad car while he assisted with lane closures at a fatal crash scene. He told supervisors that he had just received the electronic device as a gift and wanted to try it out. He apologized for his actions.

In August 2008, two motorcyclists told Franklin police Quiles tailgated, changed lanes, split their motorcycle group and slammed on his brakes while in front of them. The motorcyclists got Quiles' license plate number and turned it over to police. Quiles, who was off duty at the time, denied the accusations.

He was suspended for one day for failing to tell the sheriff's office about being investigated for the road rage incident, which resulted in a formal warning about his driving habits from Franklin police.

In the 2013 crash that injured the Franklin woman, Quiles is facing a nine-day suspension.

He has yet to serve the suspension. After the crash, which occurred Feb. 20, 2013, while he was on patrol near Mitchell International Airport, Quiles exhausted his injury pay.

Since then, Quiles has been on injury leave without pay, according to the sheriff's office. If he does not report for work when that temporary unpaid status expires, he would be considered AWOL and subject to termination. His gross pay in 2013 was $59,397.30.

"Everything in a governmental bureaucracy is a process that leans heavily toward the employee," Clarke said in a written statement. "We have to follow the law on this stuff whether I like it or not."

Quiles could not be reached for comment.

The latest disciplinary action against Quiles stems from a 2013 crash that severely injured Tanya Weyker, 26, and her passenger, Eloy Mena, and resulted in Weyker's arrest on suspicion of drunken driving even though she was sober.

The incident was first reported by WITI-TV in Milwaukee.

According to records:

Weyker was driving south on S. Howell Ave. about 11:30 p.m. when she came to the intersection of E. Joseph M Hutsteiner Drive near the airport. She had the right of way — there is no stop sign for traffic on Howell Ave. at that intersection — and later told investigators she was traveling about 35 to 40 mph.

Quiles was traveling west on Hutsteiner Drive when he came to a stop sign at the intersection. He failed to stop and crashed into Weyker's 2004 Toyota Camry, causing her car to spin and hit a tree in the median.

Weyker broke her neck in four places and needed surgery to fuse her vertebrae. Her passenger was taken to a hospital for a lacerated spleen, and Weyker's car was totaled.

Quiles had shoulder and back pain and was treated at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa after the crash. The damage to the squad car was estimated at $2,500.

The squad car crash was investigated by the Milwaukee Police Department. Clarke said that was standard procedure.

Quiles told the Milwaukee police officer at the scene that he had come to a complete stop as he approached the median to enter southbound Howell Ave. He looked left and right and saw no vehicle, Quiles said, nor did he observe any headlights.

Weyker told Milwaukee Police Officer James Johnson and Milwaukee County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Griffin that she had been at a bar and shared an alcoholic drink with a friend. She also said that she was prescribed pain medication when her wisdom teeth were removed, but that she had not taken it in a week or more.

Griffin noted in reports that Weyker's eyes appeared "glassy and red" and her speech slurred. She was unable to perform field sobriety tests or a breath test because of her injuries and was arrested by Griffin on suspicion of driving while impaired.

Weyker's passenger told the officer that the deputy's squad car did not stop.

The Milwaukee police officer did not issue any tickets in the crash because of the conflicting statements. At the time, he did not have access to the video evidence.

Deputy Griffin — Quiles' co-worker at the sheriff's office — arrested Weyker based on her statements and his observations on possible charges of first-offense drunken driving and four other traffic offenses, which were later dismissed.

Mounting evidence

Video from an airport security camera showed that Quiles — not Weyker — was responsible for the crash.

The footage shows that Quiles failed to yield or stop at the marked intersection before crashing into Weyker's car, which had its headlights on.

In March 2013, Weyker's blood test results returned from the state lab and showed she had no alcohol or drugs in her system.

On Dec. 5, 2013 — some nine months later — Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Ron Dague reviewed the case and closed it without charging Weyker. He noted that Quiles' "squad failed to stop/yield to an auto in the active traffic lane."

The Milwaukee County district attorney's office could not provide a specific reason for the length of time between receiving the drug test results and reviewing the case but noted Dague had reviewed more than 1,600 criminal traffic matters in 2013.

On Dec. 17, 2013, Quiles was interviewed by internal affairs at the sheriff's office and admitted his failure to stop. He said he was told by "friends and colleagues" that he "rolled the stop sign" but said he had not seen any video of the incident.

Quiles told investigators that when he wrote the original report, he believed he had come to a complete stop. Asked if he believed he was at fault for the accident, Quiles replied, "That's correct."

Deputy Quiles' interview with Internal Affairs by Journal Sentinel

The internal investigation determined Quiles was careless in operation of his squad car. The nine-day suspension was issued "under the just cause standard for meting out police discipline, which is the law for civil service employees," according to Clarke.

"I was very disappointed in myself for what happened," Quiles told internal investigators. "I've been beating myself up over it."

She's a 'fighter'

Weyker's injuries and the cost to treat them were substantial.

Weyker, a University of Wisconsin-Parkside student, already had suffered health problems earlier in life. At age 3, doctors discovered a grapefruit-size tumor in a kidney and removed the organ, but the cancer had already spread throughout her abdominal area. The intense treatments caused other health complications such as scoliosis, or curving of the spine, which was treated with spinal fusions, she said.

On the night of the crash, Weyker suffered several fractures in her spine. She was told she was under arrest just before paramedics took her to the hospital. Deputies met her at the hospital, where they fingerprinted her and took her mug shot.

After the booking process, her parents paid her bail and were finally allowed into Weyker's hospital room, about 16 hours after she had been admitted, Weyker said.

As of September, the medical bills had reached $206,000 and have continued to grow.

Attorney Todd R. Korb of Hupy and Abraham filed a notice of claim with the county last year for injuries Weyker suffered in the crash, claiming damages in the amount of $500,000. The claim demands $250,000, the most available under state law, and has yet to be taken up by the County Board.

Weyker is now being represented by attorney Michael D. Oppenheimer of Erickson & Oppenheimer in Chicago, who declined to comment for this story.

Weyker said the crash has not deterred her dreams of becoming a clinical psychologist for children or founding her own charity for cancer research, which she's already started raising money for through a jewelry collection called Infinity Bows by Tanya Helena.

"There have been many times, especially after the accident, where I was scared to go to sleep because I didn't think I would ever wake up," she wrote in an email.

"But I have been a fighter ever since I was diagnosed with cancer as a little girl so I just tried my best to stay strong and remind myself that I could get through these tough times, too."

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