Three Girl Scouts, chaperone killed in Chippewa County hit-and-run; driver in custody

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Three Girl Scouts, chaperone killed in Chippewa County hit-and-run; driver in custody

Miguel Otárola and Liz Sawyer Star Tribune Nov 3, 2018

Clad in bright lime-green safety vests, two small groups of Girl Scouts and their adult companions walked along both sides of County Road P in Lake Hallie late Saturday morning, chattering and laughing as they picked up litter. ... The fourth-graders had adopted that rural road and performed the community service along it before, clearing the stretch that runs through farmland and residential areas just northwest of Lake Hallie in the spring and fall.

Suddenly, a black pickup speeding by veered off the road into the shallow ditch where some of the girls were walking, striking several children and a woman accompanying them. The truck then lurched back onto the road and sped away, according to police and witnesses.

Left behind was a scene of horror — two girls and the chaperone lay dead by the roadside. Two other Girl Scouts were taken by ambulance and helicopter to a hospital, where one died later Saturday. ... The surviving girl remained hospitalized late Saturday in critical condition.

The driver of the pickup that hit them, 21-year-old Colten Treu of Chippewa Falls, later surrendered himself, according to Sgt. Daniel Sokup of the Lake Hallie Police Department. Charges have not yet been filed.
....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Officials: Driver was huffing before crash that killed 3 Girl Scouts, 1 adult

Officials: Driver was huffing before crash that killed 3 Girl Scouts, 1 adult

Associated Press 56 min ago

LAKE HALLIE — A young driver was inhaling chemical vapors, or huffing, just prior to striking and killing three Girl Scouts and a mother and critically injuring a fourth girl who had been picking up trash along a rural Wisconsin highway, police said Monday. ... Colten Treu, 21, sped off after the collision in Lake Hallie Saturday morning, but later surrendered.

Treu was being held in the Chippewa County Jail on 13 possible charges, including four counts of intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, Chippewa County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Jensen said. He is expected to appear for a bond hearing at 10 a.m. Monday, Jensen said.

Lake Hallie police said Monday that Treu and a passenger in the pickup truck both told investigators they had intentionally been inhaling chemical vapors just prior to the crash.

Lake Hallie police said Monday that the deceased were: 9-year-old Jayna Kelley and 10-year-old Autum Helgeson, both of Lake Hallie, and 10-year-old Haylee Hickle and her 32-year-old mother, Sara Jo Schneider, from the Town of Lafayette. ... The surviving girl was hospitalized in Rochester in critical condition. ... The children were all fourth graders at Halmstad Elementary School and Southview Elementary School in nearby Chippewa Falls, about 90 miles east of Minneapolis.
....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. More info - the driver and his passenger had been "huffing" just before the accident.

https://www.weau.com/content/news/Fatal-hit-and-run-in-Chippewa-County--499502971.html

The article doesn't specify what the chemical was. The sentence for criminal vehicular negligence in WI is 10 years but I hope this dirtbag gets consecutive sentences.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. We posted simultaneously.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

This was a bad week to be a kid trying to get to or from a school bus, or to be picking up trash by the side of the road.

Thanks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Yes, this got a lot of local coverage (Twin Cities).

Hope they throw the book at this idiot.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. I'll have to check a map of Wisconsin to see how far this is from you.

{a few minutes later}

Oh, that's not far at all.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chippewa+County,+WI/@45.0068774,-92.6983504,9z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x52acac4478637783:0x5b48f611ef253fba!8m2!3d45.0673752!4d-91.2924666

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. It's a bit of a drive, but western WI is part of the larger Twin Cities news territory.

[LakeArenal]

6. Egads. Horrific. Life in prison please.

[blue-wave]

8. So Heartbreaking

I've had the unfortunate experience to witness people in public who were "huffing." It isn't pretty. They are truly out of their minds. How can we ever stop the drug culture that surrounds us?

[riversedge]

9. I was on Hwy P the day before this happened. 2 of those killed go to my

nephews school. He is only 7 but he knew one of girls from the neighborhood. Talked with him Sunday. He really is sad. He grew up on a hobby farm and knows how horses and dogs die and are buried. But so hard for him.