In the early hours this morning, a fatal traffic collision occurred on I43 in Ozaukee County, as reported by the local sheriff's office. According to a news release posted on the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page, several 911 calls alerted authorities to a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction - southbound in the northbound lanes - near Jay Road in the Town of Belgium.
At 12:44am, merely seven minutes after the first call, the errant vehicle, a 2025 Lexus, collided head-on with a 2017 Ford Escape. The impact tragically claimed the lives of two passengers, a 51-year-old female and a 56-year-old male from Oostburg, while seriously injuring a 22-year-old female occupant. The driver of the Lexus, a 34-year-old male from Milwaukee, was critically injured in the crash and had to quickly be transported to Froedtert Hospital following initial care at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.
The severity of the incident necessitated the closure of northbound traffic on I43 at County Highway H for about five hours, causing considerable disruption as investigators worked on the scene. Assistance was provided by multiple local fire departments and police departments, demonstrating the community's collaborative response to such emergencies. The names of the victims and the offending driver have been withheld pending notification of next of kin.
While it remains uncleared if involvement of alcohol or drugs were contributing factors in the crash, the investigation by the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office continues. The inclusion of various emergency response teams, such as the Ozaukee Central Fire Department and the Ozaukee County Crash Reconstruction Team, underlines the meticulous approach taken to ascertain the cause of the unfortunate event.
