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Kewaskum teen killed, Campbellsport teen injured in rollover crash
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By Andrew Kuehl
1/22/08 TOWN of KEWASKUM- A single-vehicle, rollover crash shortly before midnight on Sunday, January 20, claimed the life of a 18-year-old village of Kewaskum man and injured a 16-year-old Campbellsport boy.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Department was notified of the crash at 11:47 p.m., along a 90 degree curve at Prospect Drive and Ridge Road in the town of Kewaskum. Deputies and members of the Kewaskum Fire Department and EMS responded to the scene.
EMS personnel located the vehicle rolled over on its roof, several feet off the roadway in a marshy area on the northeast corner of the intersection and found the operator partially pinned under the vehicle. Upon extricating the operator, Tony Raess, with the Jaws of Life, rescuers learned that he was fatally injured.
Tanner Lauters, 16, of Campbellsport, is believed to have been wearing his seatbelt and was able to remove himself from the vehicle prior to arrival of EMS personnel. He was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in the town of Polk by Kewaskum EMS for apparent non-life threatening injuries and later conveyed by ambulance to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee.
The Sheriff’s Department stated that an investigation revealed that the vehicle had been eastbound on Ridge Road, traveling at a high rate of speed when the driver was believed to have been unable to negotiate the 90 turn on to Prospect Drive. The vehicle subsequently skidded off the roadway, entered the ditch line and rolled over, partially ejecting the operator who was not wearing his seatbelt.
Lauters is believed to have been released from Children’s Hospital. A hospital spokesperson stated they were asked not to release information on Lauters’ condition.
Kewaskum High School Principal Christine Horbas confirmed that Raess was a KHS student during his freshman and half of his senior year and that Lauters is a current student. Juniors and seniors were made aware of the fatal crash during an assembly.
“This tragedy was a great loss of a very loving young man. I don’t think he realized how he touched others’ lives,” remarked Horbas.
Raess was Washington County’s second fatal accident of the new year.
According to police radio communications an EMT was injured at the scene due to the cold weather and rescue efforts taking place in the marsh area. His condition is unknown at this time.
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