Aug 15, 2008 11:10 am US/Central
Gurnee Woman, Son Killed In Wisconsin Crash
Car Hit Pair As They Tried To Change Tire On Interstate 94 East
PARIS, Wis. (CBS) ―
A horrible crash shut down part of eastbound Interstate 94 East overnight, when a mother and son from Gurnee were hit and killed as they tried to change a flat tire in southeastern Wisconsin.
As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the crash happened around 10:40 p.m. Thursday in the southbound lanes of I-94 East near State Highway 142, in the Kenosha County town of Paris.
Rescue crews tried to save 60-year-old Clara Jennings and her son, 23-year-old Patrick Jennings, but both were killed – right in front of the young man's girlfriend.
Clara Jennings had a flat tire as she drove down I-94 East, so she pulled her 1998 Honda Civic over on the west shoulder and called her son to help her. He drove there with his girlfriend in the car and parked a few hundred feet behind his mother's car, close to the highway but still on the shoulder.
Patrick and his mom, who did not have passengers in her car, were both outside her disabled car and as he was working on the car, she was also outside watching him.
"He was changing the left rear flat tire and while they were changing it a 1997 Toyota Corolla struck both of them,'' Kenosha County Sheriff's Dept. Lt. Paul Falduto said.
After Patrick and his mother were struck, the Corolla veered across the highway and into the median.
"It killed them both pretty much outright,'' Falduto said. Both were dead on the scene and the Honda sustained "extreme damage,'' according to the lieutenant, who said it was an "ugly scene."
Patrick Jennings' girlfriend, also from Gurnee, was sitting inside his car while the accident happened. "The poor girlfriend watched the whole thing happen,'' according to Falduto. She was uninjured and able to call 911.
The assistant Kenosha County medical examiner was called to the scene and the Jennings were not taken to hospitals.
The Corolla sustained severe front end damage and damage to its windshield.
The driver of the Corolla, 38-year-old Cara Michalski of Milwaukee, and her passenger, 36-year-old Willie Pritchard of Milwaukee, were both seriously injured but are expected to survive. Michalski was airlifted to Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee and Pritchard was taken to Saint Catherine's Hospital in Kenosha, Falduto said.
The interstate, which has a posted speed limit of 65 mph, was closed until about 2:30 a.m.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
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