Orlando M. Gonzalez, a 51-year-old Milwaukee man who used a wheelchair, died 10 days after being struck by a vehicle while seated in his wheelchair at the intersection of West Arthur Street and South 13th Street. Police say Gonzalez was crossing the roadway outside a designated crosswalk when a car driven by a 26-year-old, who was turning southbound at the intersection, struck him on Oct. 13 around 2:45 p.m.
Gonzalez was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries but died Oct. 23, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death an accident, and police say the driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with investigators. The circumstances leading up to the crash remain under investigation, the paper reports.
A Pattern Of Wheelchair Users Killed In Traffic
Gonzalez's death adds to a string of recent fatalities involving Milwaukee wheelchair users struck by vehicles. Patrick McGowan was struck and killed on Oct. 10, 13 days before Gonzalez died, while attempting to cross Burleigh Street near North 49th Street, where police said a westbound vehicle hit him around 2:15 a.m., according to Hoodline's earlier reporting.
Seven months before McGowan's death, 73-year-old Henry “Happy” Goodlow was struck and killed crossing Burleigh Street near North 48th Street on March 6, the same report notes. And on July 14, a 70-year-old man in a wheelchair died after being struck while crossing the street on the 1200 block of West Atkinson Avenue. A city traffic-safety project at North 51st Street and West Burleigh Street was still active and had not yet completed installation of accessible curb ramps and curb extensions, but officials said no additional active improvement project was planned for the nearby stretch where Goodlow and McGowan were killed.
Milwaukee's Broader Traffic Death Toll
The deaths come as Milwaukee continues to grapple with a heavy traffic-fatality toll. The city's Vision Zero Action Plan executive summary says 68 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured in city traffic crashes in 2024, and the city has found that 10% of its streets account for 58% of serious injuries or deaths from crashes. At least 35 people had died in Milwaukee traffic crashes in 2026 as of Hoodline's reporting, including nine pedestrians since the start of July, while 62 people died in traffic crashes across the city in all of 2025.
Statewide, the numbers tell a similarly grim story. Wisconsin recorded 61 pedestrian deaths and 1,190 pedestrian injuries in 2023, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's 2024 pedestrian fact sheet counted 59 pedestrian deaths and 1,283 injuries that year. A national study cited by Hoodline estimated that pedestrians using wheelchairs face about a 36% higher risk of death in road traffic collisions compared with non-wheelchair users.
What Wisconsin Law Says About Crossing Outside A Crosswalk
Under Wisconsin law, a pedestrian or other covered road user crossing at a point other than within a marked or unmarked crosswalk must yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway, according to state statute 346.25. Separately, state statute 346.24 addresses pedestrian right-of-way at an intersection or crosswalk where traffic is not controlled by signals or an officer. Police have not said what traffic controls were present at West Arthur and South 13th streets, and the investigation into the circumstances that led to the crash is ongoing.
