Two people suffer life-threatening injuries in crash at Highway 165 and Green Bay Road; intersection closed nearly five hours

A 50-year-old Waukegan, Ill.,-man, the driver of the vehicle, and his passenger, a 37-year-old woman from Kenosha were transported separately by Flight For Life helicopters to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa following the crash, according to Sgt. Zach Dutter of the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. Village police responded at 6:27 p.m. along with fire and rescue personnel who were called to the scene.

“He sustained substantial injuries,” said Dutter. “We were advised that his injuries were non-survivable. But he is, right now, still alive.”

Dutter said the woman also had “significant” life-threatening injuries, but is “stable and expected to survive.” Their conditions were not immediately available.

Dutter said Flight For Life airlifted the man directly from the scene. The woman, however, was first transported by ambulance to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital and later flown to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.

The driver of the second vehicle, a 60-year-old Kenosha man, had minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital.

“He is expected to be just fine,” he said.

Dutter said preliminary investigations indicated that a blue Chevrolet sedan, driven by the man from Waukegan, and a red Toyota SUV, driven by the Kenosha man, were involved in the collision.

“The red Toyota SUV was northbound on Green Bay Road and went to make a left hand turn to go westbound on (Highway) 165. The blue sedan was a Chevy and was southbound on Green Bay Road and struck the Toyota making a left hand turn,” Dutter said.

Authorities investigating the crash believe that speed was a factor in the collision.

“We are not aware of any alcohol involved,” he said.

Authorities have contacted the Wisconsin State Patrol’s traffic reconstruction unit to assist in the investigation.

“We do have video of the incident that is being collected and will be reviewed. As of right now, there have been no citations issued. We are still actively investigating. Unfortunately, due to the age of the sedan it doesn’t have an airbag module so we can’t download it to see the speeds,” he said. “But the Toyota does have an airbag module that we will be able to download and we should be able to get an approximate speed for the sedan based off that vehicle.”

The intersection was closed for nearly five hours and multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department and the state patrol helped to preserve the scene and re-directed traffic.

Dutter said based on interviews from witnesses to the crash, “excessive speed” involving the sedan was believed to be a factor.

“It was definitely a very sad incident. Unfortunately, a lot of people witnessed the fallout from this,” he said.

He said, however, that he was heartened to see people step up to help with “no questions asked.”

“Both the male and female were attended to by multiple passersby. One passerby did CPR on the male gentleman and actually got a pulse back and so he did an absolutely fantastic job,” Dutter said. “It was heartwarming to see the community come together at just the drop of a pin. I’m proud to say that, you know? We all are a part of this community… that kind of stuff … you don’t see that every day.”

Authorities are asking witnesses to the crash to call Pleasant Prairie police dispatch at 262-694-7353.