• 14
  • November
    2011

It was a scene onlookers called "gruesome." A car accident involving multiple vehicles that occurred on Highway 41/45 in Germantown, Wisconsin, killed one person and injured six others.

Authorities say the tragic car crash happened shortly after 9 a.m. one morning last week after a northbound tractor trailer struck a car and ended up facing oncoming southbound traffic once it crossed the highway median.

Once in the southbound lane, two vehicles became trapped under the bed of the semi. Other cars that attempted to avoid the crash or could not stop caused a pileup. One semi truck that had gone off the road also had a car pinned underneath it.

The Germantown police chief said one of the people whose vehicle was stuck under the semi was killed in the accident, and the other motorist who was trapped suffered serious injuries and had to be extricated from the car. Five other people sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were also transported to the hospital.

According to the Northwestern, an investigation revealed the roadway was slippery from light, steady rain that had fallen. In addition, authorities say the curving, hilly road played a factor in the cause of the accident. However, police say they were unsure if the semi with the vehicles pinned underneath was the same semi that crossed the grassy median.

Eight vehicles and two semis were involved in the crash, which blocked traffic in the northbound and southbound lanes for hours. Investigators checking the wreckage apparently found debris along the road and shoulder for at least a quarter mile.

Source: The Northwestern, "Two semis, eight cars involved in fatal Wisconsin crash," Dinesh Ramde, Nov. 8, 2011