Man sentenced to prison for tearing through Port in 2019

A 22-year-old driver who forced motorists to swerve off the road and pedestrians to run for cover as he sped through Port Washington at speeds of more than 90 mph in September 2019 was sentenced recently to six years in prison.

Jordan D. Murdock of Green Bay, who pleaded no contest to felony charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and fleeing officers in June, was also sentenced by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy to four years of extended supervision last month.

Murdock, who ended up ditching his car in downtown Port Washington and leading police on a foot chase before being found hiding in a dumpster, appeared to be strung out on drugs, officers said.

The incident began at about 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, when Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy John Layden was monitoring reports from a driver on I-43 who said a car was swerving in and out of traffic, almost hitting other vehicles. Layden  then saw the Cadillac driven by Murdock exit the freeway on the north side of Port Washington and go through the Arby’s drive-through.

Murdock exited the drive-through and was driving north through the Piggly Wiggly parking lot when Layden activated his vehicle’s emergency lights. Murdock slowly turned around, then quickly accelerated, jumping the curb and driving over grass onto Wisconsin Street. Layden did not chase him for safety reasons.

Port Washington police officer Kirstin Moertl was parked at Drews True Value Hardware just south of Arby’s and saw Murdock’s car race past, heading south in the northbound lane. 

Moertl pulled out and followed Murdock as cars skidded off the street to avoid the speeding Cadillac, but she broke off the chase after losing sight of him.

As Moertl continued south on Wisconsin Street, drivers honked their horns and gestured to let her know Murdock was headed toward downtown, where authorities say he sped south on Franklin Street, then managed to make the turn onto Grand Avenue.

As officers were searching for Murdock downtown, they received a report that he had abandoned his car in the lower parking lot of the Harborview Hotel along the west slip of the harbor and was running south toward Coal Dock Park.

Murdock then doubled back on the harborwalk, cut through the hotel’s lower parking lot and was seen near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Franklin Street, police said.

As the search for him continued, a witness directed officer Gary Belzer to a dumpster in an alley off Franklin Street near Bernie’s Fine Meats, where he found Murdock hiding.

  After climbing out of the dumpster, Murdock, who had glassy eyes and was sweating profusely, nodded off and began falling backwards, according to the complaint.

“It was readily obvious to her (Moertl) that he was under the influence of some type of drug,” the complaint states.

Police Chief Kevin Hingiss, who noted that officers did the right thing by deciding not to chase Murdock’s car, said at the time that the incident could have ended in tragedy.

“He could have plowed into cars or run pedestrians over,” he said. “It’s amazing that no one was injured or killed. We’re really lucky.”

Murdock has a criminal record that includes burglary and bail jumping convictions in Brown County.