A 24-year-old West Allis man died Monday night after his Toyota Highlander slammed into the back of a boat trailer on Interstate 90/94 near Lake Delton, sending a pontoon boat into the lane of traffic and rolling his SUV into a roadside ditch. The Chrysler driver was unhurt.
According to wrco.com, the crash happened at approximately 10:39 p.m. in the westbound lanes of I-90/94 at mile marker 92, close to Lake Delton, though WMTV 15 NEWS reported the crash occurred around 10:40 p.m. that same Monday night. A 2006 Chrysler Town & Country, driven by a 69-year-old man from Adams, Wisconsin, was traveling westbound while towing a pontoon boat on a trailer when a 2006 Toyota Highlander traveling in the same direction struck the rear of the trailer.
Impact Sent Boat Into Traffic, SUV Into a Rollover
The collision was severe enough to force the trailer hitch into the back of the Chrysler and knock the pontoon boat loose into the travel lane, per the wrco.com report. After striking the trailer, the Toyota veered into the right-hand ditch and overturned multiple times before coming to a stop.
The 24-year-old driver of the Toyota was partially ejected during the rollover and suffered fatal injuries, the outlet reported. The driver of the Chrysler was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured in the crash, according to the same account.
Seatbelt Use
Both wrco.com and WMTV 15 NEWS reported that the Toyota driver was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision.
Names of those involved in the crash were being withheld pending notification of family, per wrco.com's report. The crash remains under investigation by law enforcement, and no additional details on the cause of the initial collision have been released.
Another Fatal Crash Reported Elsewhere in Wisconsin
The Lake Delton crash was one of multiple fatal wrecks reported in Wisconsin around the same period. A separate crash on I-43 near STH 54/57 also left one person dead and resulted in an arrest, according to a report from WBAY.
