Category: Crime and safety

Chief Roman said she is angered, disheartened and dismayed by how many women are sexually assaulted while in college.

University of Wisconsin Police Chief Kristen Roman on Thursday published An Open Letter to Sexual Assault Survivors, expressing her disappointment with the sentence given to Alec Cook last week.

Six Wisconsin lawmakers this week condemned what they said was a lenient three-year prison sentence given to a former University of Wisconsin student who admitted to sexually assaulting three women and choking or stalking two others.

Cook is a former University of Wisconsin-Madison student who pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree sexual assault, and one count each of strangulation and stalking. The case drew regional and national media coverage.

A group of state and local elected officials on Tuesday joined a chorus of criticism of Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke’s three-year prison sentence for expelled University of Wisconsin-Madison student Alec Cook, a punishment they say was too light for a “serial sexual assault perpetrator.”

A group of Madison-area elected officials Tuesday slammed a Dane County judge’s decision to give “a slap on the wrist” to an ex-University of Wisconsin-Madison student from a wealthy family who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three female students and choking or stalking two others.

UW police received a report around 5 p.m. of a possible child abuse situation in the Eagle Heights community on the northwest end of campus, officials said.

Last Tuesday, a malicious phishing email claiming to be from Chancelor Rebecca Blank was sent to students. The subject line read “Attention Required,”and the email asked students to open an attached document discussing a “Business Integrity Program.”

A judge’s light sentence for a man convicted of multiple sexual assaults, stalking and choking women at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is drawing outrage.

A serial rapist was sentenced to 3 years in prison in Dane County Court. Alec Cook, accused of sexually assaulting 11 women around the UW-Madison campus. He will also be under extended release for five years after serving his jail time.

Eleven female UW Madison students came forward to tell their stories of assault.

Alec Cook, a former UW-Madison student convicted of sexual assault, was sentenced to three years in prison with an additional eight years of probation Thursday, far less than the maximum 40-year sentence sought by the prosecution.

Cook faces maximum sentence of nearly 40 years in prison, $95,000 in fines.

Justin Fahy, of Monona, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of capturing an intimate representation. A disorderly conduct charge was dismissed.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was the first woman to report being sexually assaulted by fellow student Alec Cook urged a Dane County Circuit Court judge to sentence him to the maximum term of incarceration allowed by law — nearly 40 years in prison.

The UW-Madison Police Department is now aware of three burglaries that took place at University Hospital last week.

After unexpectedly being thrown into Lake Mendota, the Sunburst Bucky statue is now back in James Madison Park.

The training aims to change the way officers think about use-of-force in critical incidents, especially those involving someone in a mental health crisis.

The department said Monday that all of its officers would soon be trained to focus on de-escalating situations through communication and other methods to defuse a situation and avoid using use-of-force tactics unless necessary.

A review by the UW-Madison Police Department conducted after the death of a windsurfer who was struck and killed by a university Lake Safety boat found that the program had little to no documentation of staff training or written policies or procedures for staff to follow.

Report determined Lake Mendota is safe under watch of UW Lifesaving Station.

A Chen family attorney says steps have been taken to prepare to file a lawsuit over Chen’s death, as a criminal investigation lingers.

Sheriff Dave Mahoney tells News 3 that the Sheriff’s Department turned their investigation over to the Dane County District Attorney’s Office, but did not recommend charges.

Family and friends of Yu Chen invite the public to join in a candlelight vigil Thursday night to remember the late windsurfer.  Chen was killed one year ago on May 31, 2017.  A UW lifesaving boat hit him while he was windsurfing on Lake Mendota.

Chung was arrested in connection with two alleged attempted abductions of college students on the UW campus, one Sept. 30 and the other Oct. 2. In both instances, the alleged victims were able to escape, but the second victim suffered serious injuries.

In his request of Dane County Judge Josann Reynolds, Nathan Friar argues his trial attorney failed to properly challenge the woman’s statements on her drinking, her memory and her injuries.

Two UW-Madison student suspects in the videotaped beating of a student on the ground on residence hall property are released from the Dane County jail.

A 15-year-old girl was struck by a UW Police Department squad car on the UW-Madison campus Thursday while running from a stopped vehicle, police said.

UWPD, MPD both investigating incident.

A technical glitch is being blamed for an “active threat to life safety” alert sent to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students and staff Sunday afternoon.

The artist who created “Sunburst” Bucky said she will work to repaint the Bucky Badger statue after it was found Wednesday morning in Lake Mendota.

One of the Bucky on Parade statues placed around Madison this week was found in the water at James Madison Park Thursday morning, officials said.

A year after a University of Wisconsin-Madison lake safety boat hit and killed a Hoofers Sailing Club instructor on Lake Mendota, changes are coming to the campus’s lake rescue program.

The UW Lake Safety program, first put on the water in 1909, is now a part of the UW-Madison Police Department, and has been renamed UWPD Lake Rescue and Safety.

Two men were arrested and another cited Tuesday after a fight outside Sellery Hall early Friday morning left a UW-Madison student with a broken wrist and a concussion, the UW-Madison Police Department said.

UW-Madison Police Department arrested three suspects Tuesday in connection to the battery incident that occurred outside a UW-Madison residence hall last week.

A trial opened Tuesday for a homeless man accused of manslaughter in the 2016 drowning of a 19-year-old UW-Madison student whose body was found in the Tiber River soon after he arrived in Rome for a summer study program.