Crime & Safety

Teen Pleads Guilty to Drunken Driving Homicide

Two Waukesha County deputies were injured in the crash that left a 17-year-old boy dead.

A Cudahay teen, who crashed his car in Brookfield while driving drunk, killing his friend and injuring two Waukesha County deputies, will be sentenced on Aug. 29.

Ihor M. Sahan, 19, pleaded guilty Tuesday to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and misdemeanor operating while under the influence-causing injury. He faces up to 15 years in prison and $100,000 in fines on the homicide conviction.

Sahan’s friend, 17-year-old Ryan Petri, was not wearing a seatbelt in the crash on Interstate 94. Petri sustained massive brain trauma in the crash. He died at Children’s Hospital after being transported there by Flight For Life. 

Sahan was driving Petri home from a concert in Madison where Sahan admitted he consumed six vodka and Gatorade drinks, according to the criminal complaint.

While Sahan was driving home, the complaint states, two deputies were parked on the freeway in a Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department’s squad car. Sahan was driving 74 mph before crashing into the vehicle, the deputies reported.

The deputies reported being struck “very hard” in the accident that dislodged the squad car’s computer, chipped a deputy’s tooth and spun the squad car around. Sahan’s vehicle was engulfed in flames, so the deputies pulled Sahan from the vehicle and freed Petri, who was unresponsive, according to the criminal complaint.

The two deputies were injured in the crash.

Sahan’s blood alcohol concentration was .135 percent, the complaint states.

“I had started getting tired and fell asleep (while driving), behind the wheel. … I realized I had crashed and my car was in flames,” Sahan told investigators, the complaint states. “My friend was unconscious and an officer from the squad car came out and pulled my friend out.”


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