Cause of ‘freakish’ accident remains unclear

A Chevy Astro van plowed into the entrance to the Wisconsin Humane Society  Ozaukee Campus building in Saukville early Sunday in what is being described as a “freakish” accident. 

“It floors me. The car had to take a path that avoided the trees, poles and a granite sign,” Angela Speed, the Humane Society’s vice president of Marketing and Communications, said, adding the van, which had been heading westbound on Hwy. 33 at a high rate of speed, had to drive down a grass hill and through a long stretch of parking lot before it reached the shelter.

“It’s quite freakish,” she said.

The driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries and no animals were injured.

Saukville Police Chief Robert Meyer said on Monday his department is still investigating the incident. The driver, a 48-year-old man from Michigan, was not suspected of driving intoxicated, he said.

“It is real unclear what led to the crash,” Speed said.

While the accident was improbable, the shelter was lucky from one perspective, Speed said.

“Only 15 or 20 yards to the west and the car would have went into the cat lodge,” she said. About 130 animals are currently being cared for at the Ozaukee location.

The van destroyed one of the three poles that support the building’s overhang and caused extensive damage to the front area, Speed said. The entrance will be closed until it is repaired and an east-side entrance will be used instead.

That entrance requires that staff members buzz in and out every visitor, she said.

The crash, she said, “interrupts everything.”

The Ozaukee shelter had only reopened for adoptions a week before the crash, and 17 animals left to go to homes the day before the accident, Speed said. The society is planning to host a vaccine clinic on Wednesday, Dec. 4.

Speed doesn’t know how much the repairs will cost but she said the insurance deductibles will likely be in the thousands of dollars.

The community has already stepped up to help, Speed said. In the two days after the crash, there were 69 donations to the Society, 15 of which were from first-time donors.

“It’s absolutely heartwarming to see the community response,” she said.