Charges will not be filed against a Superior Police officer who ran over a man lying in the road.

Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf announced that decision Tuesday.

He spent months considering whether or not to charge officer Joshua Sislo, after the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation and Department of Justice’s investigation into the February 19, 2022 incident.

Fruehauf said the evidence does not support that Sislo committed a crime that night.

Police said Sislo was on the lookout for a man suspected of prowling cars in the area of Tower Ave. and Broadway St. on the night of February 19.

While searching the area, police said Sislo turned onto N. 8th Street and noticed his squad car hit a bump.

Authorities said he looked into his side-view mirror but did not see anything and assumed he had driven over a piece of snow or ice in the road.

A short time later, a 911 call was received stating there was a person lying in the road on N. 8th St. near Tower Ave.

Officer Sislo returned to the area and requested an emergency response, according to police.

Once Sislo realized he had driven down that road minutes earlier, he notified his Sergeant that he may have driven over the victim. Police said he then requested the Sergeant review his squad car footage for possible evidence.

After reviewing the findings of the investigation, Fruehauf said Sislo was not impaired by any intoxicant at the time.

He was also not using his phone while driving.

Before the incident, Fruehauf added the vehicle appeared to be operating fine.

Read below for Fruehauf’s conclusions:

It is this writer’s conclusion that the evidence does not support that a crime was committed by Officer Joshua Sislo.

At the time of this incident, Officer Sislo was not impaired by any intoxicant. He was not using his phone while driving.

Prior to the impact, the vehicle appeared to be being operated in a normal manner.

Officer Sislo reported that prior to the impact, he could not see anyone lying in the roadway. This account is consistent with the evidence obtained in this investigation. This incident occurred at night with dark conditions.

Based on where the person was lying in the roadway as Officer Sislo approached N. 8th St. from Tower Ave., view of the person would be blocked by snow and an elevated tree planter. At the time of impact, the person is lying in the roadway, not moving, and is wearing dark clothing.

All of these factors would make it extremely difficult to see this person prior to impact.

Officer Sislo reported that following the impact, he believed he had hit a chunk of ice and that when he checked his mirror, he did not see anything.

This account is consistent with the evidence obtained in this investigation. Collision with a chunk of ice or snow while driving is not an uncommon event in Superior in February. Since the person lying in the road did not appear to be moving prior to impact and was wearing dark clothing, Officer Sislo’s account that he did not see anything upon checking his rear mirror is credible.

It is also worth noting that Officer Sislo was the first person to bring to his supervisor’s attention the fact that he may have been involved in this and caused his supervisor to review the squad camera footage from earlier in the night.

Not all video footage recorded by a squad camera is reviewed by an officer’s supervisor as a matter of course.

Officer Sislo’s self-reporting of his possible involvement, resulted in the video evidence being located and preserved when it might not otherwise have been without his report.

The evidence does not support that Officer Sislo knew or had reason to know that he had been involved in an accident involving injury to a person at the time of this incident.

As such, no criminal charge will be filed in connection with this matter.

To see the original report and read related stories, follow this link to the KBJR 6 News website.