One year after a driver barreled through wooden barricades on downtown Milwaukee’s Water Street and left two 22-year-olds with life-altering injuries, the survivors are marking the anniversary with a mix of gratitude and frustration. Samantha Zganjar and Chloe Handrich say the months since the July 20, 2025 crash have been filled with surgeries, grueling therapy sessions and lingering questions about how police and city officials handled the case.
What the video and records show
Surveillance and body-camera footage reviewed by WISN shows a vehicle driving through orange wooden barricades at Water and State and slamming into Zganjar and Handrich as they crossed in the marked crosswalk in the early morning hours of July 20, 2025. Witnesses told officers the car “shot through” the light and left both women bleeding in the roadway, according to that reporting.
Injuries and recovery
Both women suffered major injuries in the crash. Zganjar sustained multiple facial fractures, a hand broken in several places and lost teeth, while Handrich endured a shattered pelvis and a punctured lung and required multiple blood transfusions, according to an on-the-record interview and reporting by TMJ4. They have undergone repeated surgeries and continue to attend physical-therapy and medical appointments as they work to rebuild their school and work plans around a very different reality than the one they expected at 22.
Police response and citations
Milwaukee police ultimately issued traffic citations for failing to yield, driving without insurance and a registration violation, but did not arrest the driver or refer the case to prosecutors, according to reporting that reviewed police records. CBS 58 and other outlets reported the driver told officers she had been drinking earlier in the night, yet no breath or blood test appears in the public records. For the families, that gap has become one of the central points of anger and confusion.
What internal messages reveal
Emails obtained by reporters show Captain Robert Thiel, who oversees the Water Street entertainment zone, privately urged supervisors to deploy heavier “meridian” barriers on busy weekend nights and scheduled a follow-up meeting to address why those barriers were not in place the night of the crash. Fourth District Alderman Robert Bauman told TMJ4 he believes the driver should have been arrested and the case referred to the district attorney’s office, sharpening the divide between some elected officials and the police department over how the incident was handled.
MPD pushes back
In an October 8, 2025 press release, the Milwaukee Police Department said an OWI investigator “conducted a thorough assessment of the driver and determined that no further testing was warranted” and criticized reporting it said contained inaccuracies. The department’s statement, posted to its public information site, also urged reporters to contact MPD before publishing and said the coverage had contributed to further trauma for those affected. Milwaukee Police Department
Safety changes and the neighborhood response
City officials say they have reviewed weekend procedures, are securing heavier barriers and are stepping up enforcement on high-foot-traffic nights in the Water Street area. Families say they often learned about those moves secondhand rather than directly. Local coverage noted the city described plans to amend street closures and barrier deployments after the crash, but relatives and some aldermen say communication with victims has been sparse. WTMJ
Legal questions remain
Despite procedural changes, key legal questions remain unresolved for the families: why officers declined to perform a chemical test on scene, why charges were not referred to prosecutors and whether current closures and barricades are strong enough to protect pedestrians. Reporting that reviewed body-camera footage and crash-report documents shows officers discussed a possible OWI and summoned an expert, yet the incident was ultimately handled as a traffic crash that resulted in citations rather than a criminal referral. WISN
Looking ahead
One year on, Zganjar and Handrich say they are focused on recovery while using their experience to press for better protections for people on foot and clearer communication from city agencies. Their families say they plan to keep pushing the mayor’s office, the Fire and Police Commission and other elected officials for better notice to victims and stronger weekend safeguards on Water Street so that another late-night drive through a set of barricades does not leave more families in their position.
