MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 2023 crash that killed 11-year-old Tyrone Reese Jr. 

Court records show 31-year-old Sylvester Thomas pleaded guilty on Friday, Feb. 23 to second-degree reckless homicide. As part of a deal with prosecutors, a charge of hit-and-run involving death was dismissed.

Thomas previously pleaded not guilty to charges. In addition to prison time, he was sentenced to seven years of extended supervision.

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Case details

Prosecutors said Thomas may have been racing another car when he hit the boy near Fond du Lac and Capitol last August.

Police were called to the scene around 3:15 p.m. that Sunday. Fire department personnel were already performing CPR on Reese when officers arrived. The boy was taken to a hospital with severe injuries and died of those injuries on Aug. 30, 2023.

Crash scene on W. Fond du Lac Avenue, Milwaukee

A witness told police he saw two cars – a white Lexus and a black Dodge – speeding down Fond du Lac and “believed them to be racing,” a criminal complaint states. The witness said he saw the Dodge swerve to avoid Reese, who was riding his bike, before the Lexus hit the 11-year-old.

Another witness told police, per the complaint, that he saw the same two cars speeding down Fond du Lac before the Lexus hit Reese.

Police spoke to the driver of the Dodge. He told police, per the complaint, that he was driving down Fond du Lac and saw two boys riding their bikes and heard a “loud bang” after he passed them. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw one of the boys and a bike “fly into the air.” He then saw a Lexus pass him, and said he decided to follow it because he thought the Lexus hit the boy. He also took a picture of the Lexus – which captured the license plate.

Later, the complaint states the Dodge driver told police he saw the Lexus stop. A man got out of the passenger side, and the Dodge driver said he went back to the crash scene as the Lexus drove away. The Dodge driver said he saw the man who got out of the Lexus walking toward the crash scene.

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The passenger who had gotten out of the Lexus told police that the Challenger pulled up next to them at a stoplight near 51st and Fond du Lac and “was trying to race.” When the light turned green, they sped off.

Police watched surveillance from the area of the crash which showed the Lexus and Dodge driving east on Fond du Lac moments before Reese was hit. Both cars were driving toward where Reese was hit, the complaint states, at “speeds that were obviously much faster than other cars driving on the street.” The speed limit where the crash happened is 30 mph.

Thomas turned himself in on Aug. 28, 2023 and told police he was the driver of the Lexus, per the complaint. He told investigators he thought the Challenger hit the boy first and that he only hit the 11-year-old after. However, the Challenger had no damage that prosecutors said “would be consistent with having hit” the boy.

The complaint states Thomas’ car, meanwhile, had “severe front end damage including a crushed front hood.” The Lexus’ windshield was also smashed and had “what appeared to be marks from the crank of a bicycle on the hood.”