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Racine County deputies injured in weather-related crashes
The Racine County Sheriff's Office responded to over 20 weather-related accidents on Wednesday night, Feb. 5.
RACINE COUNTY - The Racine County Sheriff's Office responded to over 20 weather-related accidents on Wednesday night, Feb. 5. The weather conditions forced the sheriff’s office to shut down both directions of I-94 for nearly four hours.
Accidents due to icy roads
What we know:
The accidents included multiple spin-outs, jack-knifed semi-tractor trailers, and four sheriffs' office squad accidents.
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One crash resulted in a significant injury. A male operator sustained a suspected broken leg after crashing into the rear of a squad car.
Racine County crashes (Feb. 5)
Two deputies injured
What we know:
In addition, two deputies sustained injuries. One deputy was injured pulling a sergeant over the center wall as a van spun out of control, narrowly missing being crushed. Another sergeant injured his knee slipping and falling on the icy road.
No deputies were in their squad cars when the vehicles were struck, the Racine County Sheriff's Office says.
"Could have gone a lot worse"
What they're saying:
Sgt. Heather Spranger wasn't all that far from the Racine County sheriff's substation Wednesday night, Feb. 5, when Deputy Cody Olson shared over the radio his squad had just been hit on I-94.
Olson jumped the guard wall before it happened.
"My job was going up and down the interstate looking for crashes that hadn't been called out yet," Olson said. "It was really rough on the interstate. It was almost like an ice rink."
The sheriff's office sends a supervisor any time a squad is involved in an accident.
"We were looking over calls that were coming out still, and then all of a sudden, I remember Deputy Olson being like, 'Heather, we gotta go,’" Spranger said.
Her body camera, though muted, captured Olson jumping over the guard wall. But Spranger's foot slipped just in time to see the shadow of the van slide by.
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"Olson, without missing a beat, grabbed my vest and just yanked me over," she said.
"I just knew that if I were, like, to hesitate at any second pulling her in, that could have gone a lot worse," Olson said.
What's next:
The Wisconsin State Patrol is now investigating both of those crashes.
The Source: The information in this post was provided by the Racine County Sheriff's Office.