A 71-year-old Randolph man died Monday evening after his dump truck struck an overhead wire with its raised bed and overturned on County Highway P, trapping him inside the wreckage. Deputies were called to the crash near North Columbus Street around 7:30 p.m., and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to a Washington County Insider report citing the Dodge County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded around 7:30 p.m. on October 12, 2026, to find a westbound 2004 International straight truck that had struck an overhead wire with its raised dump body and flipped onto its side. The driver, described as a 71-year-old man from rural Randolph, was trapped inside the overturned truck and died at the scene, the sheriff's office said. As WMTV 15 News also reported, the driver's identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The Dodge County Sheriff's Office said the crash remains under investigation by its Crash Investigation Team.
Ten Agencies Respond Across County Lines
The crash scene drew an unusually large response for a rural highway collision. The sheriff's office report relayed by the Insider listed nine emergency and municipal entities assisting: Randolph Police, the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, Fox Lake Police, Randolph Fire Department, Randolph EMS, Fox Lake Fire Department, Beaver Dam Paramedics, the Dodge County Emergency Response Team, and the Dodge County Medical Examiner's Office.
That cross-county mobilization is a function of geography as much as the severity of the wreck. Randolph is a bi-county village straddling the Dodge and Columbia county line in south-central Wisconsin, with 1,338 of its 1,796 residents living on the Dodge County side, according to Wikipedia citing 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data. Monday night's crash near the village's border drew responders from both counties.
Why Dump Beds and Power Lines Are a Known Hazard
The mechanics behind the rollover point to a hazard well documented in the trucking and utility industries. The Electrical Safety Foundation says 76% of electrical fatalities among heavy-truck operators involved contact with overhead power lines. An elevated dump bed touching or bridging a high-voltage line can energize the truck's frame and the ground around it. The foundation advises keeping raised truck beds at least 10 feet from all power lines.
It remains unclear why the truck's dump body was raised while the vehicle was traveling on a public highway, and investigators have not said whether electrical arcing, mechanical failure, or another factor contributed to the collision.
Latest in a String of Serious Dodge County Crashes
Monday's fatality adds to a recent run of severe crashes on Dodge County's rural roadways. County Highway P itself was the site of a serious head-on collision in October 2025 west of County Highway C in Fox Lake, which injured a 19-year-old Randolph driver and required a 64-year-old Waupun driver to be airlifted by Med-Flight, per a sheriff's office report relayed by FOX6 Milwaukee.
Other recent incidents have involved heavy agricultural and commercial vehicles across the county. In August, a semi-truck collided with a combine harvester on State Highway 16/60 in Lowell, severely injuring a 70-year-old farmer who needed Flight for Life helicopter transport, Hoodline previously reported. And in March, a 63-year-old Appleton man was killed when his SUV failed to yield at a stop sign and struck a semi-truck pulling an empty milk tanker at County Highway A and County Highway W, also covered by Hoodline.
Monday's crash in Randolph remains under investigation by the Dodge County Sheriff's Crash Investigation Team.
