A Wisconsin woman was arrested last week after she was involved in a hit-and-run crash that left a Lyft driver in a coma — and then filed a false police report claiming HER vehicle was hit by a hit-and-run driver.
Jenni Fischer, 24, was arrested on December 10 and charged with hit-and-run involving great bodily harm and making a fraudulent insurance claim, WITI reported.
A criminal complaint in the Lyft driver’s crash says that Milwaukee Police responded to the scene just after 8:30 p.m. on December 1. The 26-year-old man was “not conscious but was breathing” and had “severe trauma” to his head. He was transported to a hospital, where underwent two surgeries and was “in a coma, but his condition is worsening,” December 10 court documents said.
Police said the side door of his white Nissan Sentra was “mangled and crushed backwards,” as if it had been sideswiped. Evidence from the suspect vehicle was found at the scene — as was surveillance video that showed a white or gray SUV with only its running light on hit the Lyft driver.
After determining that vehicle was. Jeep Compass, investigators set about looking for insurance claims on such a vehicle — and found one made December 3, two days after the crash, on a Jeep Compas with a vehicle identification number that traced back to Fischer.
That claim required a police report, and police found one on a vehicle with the same VIN number filed the day after the crash. It had been filed via the Citizen Online Reporting portal, which is generally reserved for minor crimes, Law&Crime reported.
According to that complaint, Fischer wrote that she left work on December 1 and found her SUV damaged in the parking lot. The report provided Fischer’s home address, and subsequently led to surveillance video showing her Jeep pulling into her building’s parking structure, with its running lights on, and park shortly after the real hit-and-run crash.
A woman in a green coat, later identified by her parents as Fischer, is seen “having difficulty” walking up a flight of stairs, bouncing between the walls and dropping her keys before catching an elevator in the lobby.
The following morning, Fischer goes back to her Jeep in the parking deck with no difficulties.
Police spoke with Fischer’s mother on December 6, and she told them the story about the hit-and-run in her daughter’s work parking lot. She also took police to a barn where Fischer’s SUV was parked — and where they saw damage consistent with the crash and white paint from the Lyft driver’s vehicle.
They showed Fischer’s mother the video of the crash, and she told them to cancel the insurance claim her daughter made since “it was not true.”
Fischer was arrested the next day at her parents’ home.
She made an initial court appearance on December 11 and was given a $20,000 cash bond. She’s due in court again on Wednesday.
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[Featured image: Jenni Fischer/Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office]