GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay man is facing more than a decade in prison after continuing to drive a vehicle recklessly without a license.
39-year-old Chad M. Gillis is charged with 7 counts including, felony bail jumping, hit-and-run, 8th offense operating a motor vehicle while revoked and 2nd offense violation of driving license restrictions. All counts have repeater enhancers.
According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were called to a hit-and-run crash that happened at Main Street and Deckner Avenue around 4:30 p.m. on February 21.
Authorities were told that the run vehicle was a beige colored Chevy Lumina with a specific license plate number. One officer heading down Abrams Street came upon a beige or silver Chevy Lumina that appeared to be driving on the rim of its front passenger tire. The vehicle, with a near exact match to the license plate number given, pulled into a driveway on Abrams.
A man got out of the car, was ordered by the cop to stop what he was doing, but he kept going to the trunk of his car. The man, identified as Chad Gillis, said he had a flat tire that needed to be changed.
The officer told Gillis that he was driving a vehicle which matched the description of a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run accident at Main and Deckner. Gillis replied that he wasn’t in an accident, but had a flat tire. The officer noticed the front passenger tire was nearly completely shredded and appeared as though Gillis drove on the rim for quite some time.
Gillis was questioned by the officer and admitted he was driving south on Deckner, but didn’t hit any vehicle. The cop asked if his car had any damage, and Gillis say there was no damage at all. When the officer walked around to the front of the car, he saw cosmetic damage to the front end. On the driver’s side, the officer noticed a large scrape coming from the front driver’s side panel all the way through the front driver’s side door. There was also a piece of trim missing from the door.
The officer explained to Gillis that police were called because they had recently been struck by another vehicle which had fled the scene. Gillis said he was driving on Deckner towards Main at a high rate of speed and had tried to pass a small, nicer black car on the right. The black car, Gillis said, was in the left lane and he tried to pass it in the right lane. As he passed the vehicle, it swerved in his lane. Gillis says he swerved to the right to try and miss the vehicle, but instead went up on the curb and popped his front passenger tire.
Gillis was asked why he didn’t stop or call police. He said he, “Didn’t want any more tickets because his license was revoked.” Gillis then said he couldn’t be sure if he hit the other vehicle.
An officer with the victim in the crash said that his vehicle had a scrape all along the passenger side of the entire car.
During an investigation of Gillis, officers found that he had 7 prior offenses for operating after revocation in the last five years. Gillis also is subject to an order for an Ignition Interlock Device requirement and has a 0.02 blood alcohol concentration restriction. There was no Ignition Interlock Device installed in the Chevy Lumina Gillis had been driving.
Gillis remains behind bars in the Brown County Jail and a court date has not been set.
