Crime & Safety
Complaint: Man Gets Tired of Walking, Steals Car for Minnesota Trip
Police say a Waukesha man said he stole a car parked at a Delafield business because his legs hurt from walking, according to a criminal complaint.
A Waukesha man is accused of stealing an employee's car at a Delafield business, then driving it to Minnesota.
Daniel H. Browning, 55, was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Tuesday with one count of operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint:
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On Sept. 6, Delafield police officers were called to Okauchee Redi-Mix, 136 Watertown Plank Road, after an employee there reported his car was missing. The man said he parked his car at 6:15 a.m. and left the keys in the cup holder and around 8:30 a.m. he noticed the car was missing. The victim had left his cell phone in the car and called it repeatedly, but no one answered.
Records showed the phone has been in Lacrosse County and on I-94 east of Bangor. The next day Delafield officers were contacted by the Pipestone County Sheriff's Department in Minnesota after the car had been found there and Browning was arrested two miles away walking on the fog line of a highway.
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A police officer went to Pipestone to interview Browning, who gave several stories, but eventually admitted to taking the car, saying he had been walking, but his legs and hips hurt, so he took the car because he needed it.
Browning said he threw the victim's cell phone out of the car somewhere around the state line because it kept ringing.
Browning is currently free on $2,500 bond while awaiting trial.
