A Milwaukee man crashed into a school bus while fleeing police. How long will he be in prison?

The Milwaukee man who confessed to causing a six-vehicle crash that flipped a school bus and injured four people, including a 3-year-old and mother is heading to prison.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Glenn H. Yamahiro on Tuesday sentenced Elijahwan H. Shabazz to 11½ years behind bars.

He also ordered Shabazz to serve eight years of extended supervision when he is released.

Yamahiro described the crime as “one of the worst” cases of reckless driving he had ever seen in his more than 20 years on the bench.

“It’s a minor miracle no one is dead from this,” Yamahiro said.

Shabazz, 27, pleaded guilty in June to first-degree recklessly endangering safety, neglecting a child, eluding an officer, hit-and-run involving injury and bail jumping.

Here’s what happened that day

Prosecutors say Shabazz was behind the wheel of a car on Nov. 29 that police were attempting to pull over on the 9100 block of West Thurston Avenue. Officers believed the vehicle was connected to a homicide in Chicago.

The driver wouldn’t stop and a pursuit ensued. The chase ended in a collision with a school bus on North 76th Street and West Capitol Drive. The collision caused the school bus to flip onto its side, triggering a second collision with several other vehicles, police said.

No children were aboard the school bus at the time; the 72-year-old school bus driver had just dropped off the passengers, and was taken to a hospital with nonfatal injuries.

A 3-year-old child who was in the car with Shabazz was injured and suffered a gash on her face.

“This is the kind of behavior that make people afraid of traveling on certain streets in our community,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Torbenson said.

Torbenson said it’s not believed Shabazz was involved in the Chicago homicide.

Court records show Shabazz had other open cases against him at the time of the crash:

• In 2018 and 2019, Shabazz was charged in two separate cases involving allegations of illegal drug and firearm possession. In each case, he was freed on signature bonds totaling $1,350. That meant he did not have to pay the money upfront to get out of jail.
• In February 2021, he pleaded guilty to charges associated with the 2019 case, but a sentencing hearing was delayed.
• In April and July 2021, Shabazz was charged with two more felonies. The first involved more allegations of drug possession. In the second case, he was accused of hitting a 16-year-old pedestrian with his car and was charged with hit-and-run causing great harm.

Shabazz posted a $2,500 bail three days after being charged in the April case. In the July case, he posted a $2,800 bail before his first court appearance – which wasn’t scheduled until March 2022.