Man charged with leading cop on Grafton chase

A 27-year-old man who is on probation for selling drugs has been charged in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with leading police on a high-speed chase through Grafton last week.

Daniel W. Lyon of Glendale faces one felony count of fleeing an officer. The passenger in his car, 26-year-old Cassandra F. Pierschalla of Grafton, is charged with one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to a criminal complaint, a Grafton police officer was driving west on Falls Road near Cheyenne Avenue on Monday, Feb. 16, when she spotted a car with a headlight out.

The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Lyon, pulled over and parked on Blackhawk Drive, then turned the car’s lights and engine off. But as the officer drove through the area, Lyon started his car, turned onto Falls Road and headed west.

The officer followed Lyon, noting he was traveling at a high rate of speed, and saw him turn north onto Wisconsin Avenue, the complaint states.

When the officer activated her vehicle’s emergency lights, Lyon appeared to accelerate. He turned onto Seventh Avenue and drove in the oncoming lane of traffic before heading west on Maple Street. He ignored the officer’s siren, then turned into the apartment complex on Maple Street where Pierschalla lives, according to the complaint.

The officer parked her vehicle behind Lyon’s car, but he began to drive in reverse. The officer got out of her car and ordered Lyon to stop his car, but he continued to drive in reverse, the complaint states.

Pierschalla then got out of the passenger side of the car and ran to the driver’s side as Lyon moved into the passenger seat. After they were both arrested, Pierschalla claimed she was the driver, according to the complaint.

Authorities searched the vehicle and found a piece of aluminum foil with burnt residue on it under the passenger seat. Another piece of foil and a pen with the ends cut off, which also had residue on it, was found in Pierschalla’s purse, the complaint states.

That was not Lyon’s first run-in with the law. In January 2024 he was charged with three counts of delivering narcotics and one count of delivering LSD in connection with an undercover drug operation years earlier.

According to the criminal complaint filed in that case, Lyon sold Percocet pills and LSD to a confidential informant and an undercover Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy four times between Dec. 1, 2020, and Jan. 19, 2021, in the parking lot of a Mequon restaurant.

On Dec. 4, 2024, Lyon pleaded guilty to one count of delivering narcotics. Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams withheld a prison sentence, placed him on probation for three years and ordered him to serve 30 days in jail as a condition of probation.

The other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Because of his previous conviction, Lyon is now charged as a repeat offender and would face enhanced penalties if convicted.

He may also face time behind bars in the drug case because Williams withheld a prison sentence in favor of probation.

During a Feb. 17 hearing, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Adam Gerol set Lyon’s bail at $7,500.