One person is dead after a UTV crash in the Town of Union in Waupaca County, with a second rider airlifted to a hospital and the circumstances of the wreck still under investigation.
Just after 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office responded to Symco Road near Bridge Road in the Town of Union for a report of a UTV crash, according to wbay.com. Authorities at the scene found that two people had been riding on the UTV. Accounts of exactly where the victim was pronounced dead differ: wbay.com reports that one of the two was pronounced dead at the scene while the other was airlifted to ThedaCare Medical Center in Neenah, while NBC26 reports that both occupants were airlifted from the crash scene to ThedaCare Medical Center-Neenah and that one was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators have said the UTV was the only vehicle involved in the crash — no other vehicles were part of the wreck. Aspirus Medevac and ThedaStar provided the air transport described in the reporting, according to NBC26.
Multiple Agencies Responded to the Scene
The response drew in a wide swath of local and state resources. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Manawa Fire Department, Manawa Ambulance, Aspirus Medivac and ThedaStar all assisted the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office in responding to the crash, per wbay.com’s reporting. The crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not released the identities of those involved or additional details about what led up to it.
Wisconsin's Mounting UTV and ATV Death Toll
The Town of Union crash adds to a troubling statewide pattern. Wisconsin currently leads the nation in fatal ATV and UTV incidents, with 29 deaths reported so far in 2026, according to wsaw.com. Of those 29 fatalities, 13 involved ATVs and 16 involved UTVs, the station reports, alongside 49 self-reported nonfatal crashes recorded in the state this year.
State wildlife officials have pointed to specific gaps behind the toll. The Wisconsin DNR says the lack of wearing helmets and using seatbelts are the primary causes of those fatal crashes, and the agency has also cited a lack of safety education course completion as a contributing factor, per wsaw.com. The WSAW report listed rollovers as the most common fatal crash type, with 15 incidents, ahead of motor-vehicle collisions with six and ejections with four.
Other Waupaca-Area Crashes
The Town of Union wreck is not the only fatal UTV incident Waupaca County has seen. On April 27, 2025, a male was found outside a crashed UTV in the north ditch on Mud Lake Road, north of Nitke Road, in the Town of Harrison, and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to waupacanow.com. That crash also remained under investigation. Separately, on March 21, 2025, a male driving a UTV ran a stop sign and struck a pickup on U.S. Highway 45/West Madison Street and died from his injuries, the outlet reported.
