Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Scott Williams Firefighters man the scene as police search for evidence around a vehicle turned upside down along County Road BE. Witnesses said the vehicle rolled over, ejecting the driver, after colliding with another vehicle that left the scene.
Leader Photo by Scott Williams Emergency workers carry the driver of a red Jeep Grand Cherokee to an ambulance after his vehicle rolled over. Witnesses said the vehicle rolled over, ejecting the driver, after colliding with another vehicle that left the scene.
A motorist in Shawano County was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of fleeing a rollover accident that sent another driver to the hospital, in what witnesses described as an incident of road rage.
Investigators said the suspect was a Shawano-area woman who knew the other driver through some sort of previous domestic relationship.
The other driver, a man whose condition was unavailable, was taken by ambulance from the rollover scene and later flown to a hospital in the Fox Cities area.
Lt. Kurt Kitzman of the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department said it appears the two motorists got caught up in road rage, although investigators were still piecing together the exact cause.
“There was some type of disagreement that happened,” Kitzman said.
The woman in custody could face charges of hit-and-run and reckless endangerment stemming from the incident, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. along County Road BE in the town of Wescott.
Witnesses watched the violent confrontation unfold from a passing car that was caught in the middle.
“It was kind of scary,” witness Alexandra Brandt said.
Brandt and her boyfriend, Zach Acker, were heading south on County Road BE in Brandt’s car when they found themselves traveling between two other southbound motorists engaged in some sort of dispute, both driving similar SUV-style vehicles.
Police said both vehicles were Jeep Grand Cherokees.
Directly behind Brandt’s car was a red vehicle that she said was tailgating her, and just ahead of her was a white vehicle. When the red vehicle passed her on the left, she hit the brakes. The vehicle then swerved in front of her and continued onto the right shoulder, where it pulled up alongside the white vehicle.
At that point, Brandt said, the driver of the red vehicle appeared to stick his hand out the window and gesture toward the other vehicle.
“They obviously were in an argument or something,” she said.
The driver of the white vehicle then swerved into the red vehicle, causing a collision that sent the red vehicle rolling into the ditch, Brandt said. The vehicle came to rest upside down along the roadside.
While she dialed 911, Brandt’s boyfriend ran to check on the driver of the red vehicle, who had been ejected. A woman passenger crawled out of the vehicle, apparently not seriously hurt.
The driver of the white vehicle never stopped, the witnesses said.
“He just kind of took off,” Acker said, adding that the incident seemed to be over “in the blink of an eye.”
Both witnesses later gave their account of the incident to police.
Kitzman said both the suspect and victim are from the Shawano area, but investigators are still gathering details about how they knew each other and what sparked Wednesday’s incident.
Police remained at the scene of the accident Wednesday evening.