Dec. 15, 2017 – Washington Co., WI – A good Samaritan passed the note below following a horrible rollover accident Thursday night around 8:30 p.m. on northbound I41 just north of Pioneer Road.
According to Washington County Sheriff’s a northbound vehicle, driven by an 80-year-old Hartford man began to merge into the slow lane and struck the rear portion of a semi-tractor trailer that was traveling north in the slow lane.
The vehicle then lost control and began to roll over prior to coming to rest in slow lane of I41. Another semi that was in the area at the time of the accident, stopped and provided scene safety by blocking the accident scene from oncoming traffic with his semi and setting up orange hazard triangles to warn oncoming motorists.
The driver of the vehicle suffered serious injuries as a result of the accident. Due to the nature of the injuries, Flight for Life was requested. While flying to the scene they encountered weather that required them to return to their base. The 80-year-old man was subsequently transported by Jackson Rescue to Froedtert Hospital. He was not wearing a seatbelt. No one else was injured in the crash.
The good Samaritan’s note is below.
I wanted to take a minute to tell you about how amazing our community is. Last night there was a rollover accident on northbound I41. I came upon the accident moments after it happened.
There were not any police, fire, or EMS on the scene. I was amazed how many people stopped to help the person in the vehicle. There had to be at least a dozen.
People were helping the victim, directing traffic, holding flashlights, getting the person out of the vehicle, attending to medical needs, calling 911, grabbing first-aid kits from vehicles, trying to contact the driver’s family, getting blankets from cars, etc.
It was truly an amazing sight to see so many bystanders take action to help on a cold, dark, windy winter night. One of the people attending to the victim was actually driving southbound, saw no EMS on the scene, turned around to come northbound and help with medical needs at the scene. Another person was an EMT off duty. I am a RN.
No doubt that the police, fire, EMS, and I believe flight for life there to take over did an amazing job…but the compassion people showed was incredible!
It’s wonderful that they helped ,but they should not have moved the injured man unless of immediate danger.You should never move an accident victim unless you are a trained EMT.You could cause spinal trauma by doing this.