MPD Officer Jimmy Nowak’s BAC was triple the legal limit in fatal Oak Creek crash, per toxicology report

By Adam Rife

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    OAK CREEK, Wisconsin (WDJT) — The Milwaukee Police officer who passed away from a crash in Oak Creek, had a blood alcohol concentration level of .241 — according to a toxicology report from the Medical Examiner’s office.

For weeks, we’ve been requesting the toxicology report from the Medical Examiner’s office to try to learn more about what happened the night of the crash.

Those results showed Officer James “Jimmy” Nowak’s blood alcohol concentration was .241, more than three times the legal limit.

The blood sample was collected one hour and 17 minutes after the crash, which happened Sunday, Dec. 3 on Pennsylvania Avenue, just south of College Avenue. Nowak crashed his car into a semi-truck.

Nowak needed to be removed from the vehicle and was taken to Froedtert Hospital. He was the only occupant of the car. He suffered critical injuries and was kept on life support so he could donate his organs. Nowak officially died Wednesday, Dec. 6.

Erin Payton is the Regional Director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Illinois/Iowa/Wisconsin. She told us while every death is a tragedy, “This is really tough. MADD works very closely with law enforcement. We work on honoring the ones who take impaired drivers off the street. So this is tough for us.”

Nowak’s wife told us he had been with her and family just seven minutes before the crash.

On Thursday evening she said in a message she was aware of the toxicology results, but they do not change her loss, or her love for her husband.

Payton said the tragedy never ends for the families of those lost. “It’s heartbreak because we say it’s a ripple effect. The crash doesn’t just happen to the people in the car or the cars. It happens to all of their loved ones.”

Payton said it also affected Nowak’s fellow officers and the community as a whole.

She said it’s another reminder that drunk driving is 100% preventable, that everyone should consider the potential impact and plan ahead for a safe ride.

Nowak was hospitalized the night of the crash with critical injuries and was not expected to survive. But he was kept on life support for several days, on a ventilator in the surgical ICU, so that his organs could be donated.

Payton said, “We hear it at MADD again and again; their lives will never go back to how it was. They will forever be damaged by this.”

Nowak’s death dealt another blow to MPD District 4, which also suffered the loss of Nowak’s former partner, Peter Jerving, who was killed in the line of duty in February during a chase on the city’s south side.

Payton said, “I just cannot imagine what their force is going through right now.”

MPD is choosing not to comment on the toxicology results out of respect for Officer Nowak and his family.

The Oak Creek Police Department is investigating the crash since it happened there. A police captain expects to have more information Friday.

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