Sheboygan 4-year-old hit and killed; accused man pleads not guilty

SHEBOYGAN, Wisconsin. – A Sheboygan man charged in connection with a fatal pedestrian crash in April 2023 pleaded guilty Monday, July 1, to a charge of homicide with a controlled substance by vehicle. The defendant is Nathan Heitzmann.

The second charge, of knowingly acting in the presence of a suspect (causing death), was dismissed and retained in the court record for sentencing purposes.

Details of the case

According to a criminal complaint, Sheboygan Police were dispatched on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, to the area of ​​N. 21st and Saemann Avenue in reference to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle.

An officer who arrived at the scene found a minivan and a white truck, later identified as the driver of the defendant, Nathan Heitzmann. Officers also found a 4-year-old child who had suffered fatal injuries, the child’s mother, and two other juveniles at the scene. The complaint states that “the children stopped to pet a dog” belonging to a third person who was also present at the scene.

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That third person told police she reported to police that she “observed a white vehicle fail to stop at the stop sign at the intersection on North 21st Street,” the complaint states. The witness also stated that “an accident occurred and then he noticed a maroon van coming toward him and the children. He reported yanking his dog out of the way and falling backward onto the concrete.”

Two other children present at the scene also suffered injuries – abrasions and cuts.

According to the complaint, “the defendant indicated that the accident was his fault and he felt guilty for what happened. He told (the officer) several times that he made a mistake and did not plan for his day to go the way it did.”

When another police sergeant contacted Heitzmann at the scene, he noted that the defendant did not have a valid driver’s license. The complaint states that Heitzmann responded, “Wow, I thought I had a point or two, but OK, I knew it was close, I have and I don’t have a damn license.” The defendant also testified, “I can tell you exactly what happened, it was my fault… I looked, I stopped at the stop sign OK, I looked back and forth, I saw them playing on the corner, when I looked to the right, I only looked once, I’m not gonna lie, and it was pretty fast, and I didn’t see any cars, but I’m assuming they were behind my A-pillar, it was just perfectly out of my field of vision, it was my fault.”

The complaint says that on April 24, investigators completed airbag module downloads from both vehicles involved in the crash. The data showed that the defendant’s vehicle “was traveling at 16.5 mph five seconds prior to the crash, gradually slowed to 5.9 mph two seconds prior to the crash, and then began to increase speed to 13.1 mph 0.5 seconds prior to the crash and 16.2 mph at the time of the crash.” Investigators say the “data indicates that the defendant never came to a complete stop at the stop sign prior to the crash.”

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According to the indictment, investigators contacted the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and learned that they had sent two letters to the defendant — “one dated March 8, 2023, advising him that his driver’s license had been suspended due to 14 penalty points and the second dated March 27, 2023, indicating that an additional 3 penalty points had been added.”

When investigators presented Heitzmann with the suspension letters, he said, “Let’s just take it for granted, I was suspended, and yet I’m still driving even though I shouldn’t have.”