MILWAUKEE — In the blink of an eye an accident on the freeway morphed from bad to unthinkable.
Jolene Reit of Milwaukee was driving home on I-894 after picking up donuts for her kids when a driver lost control and hit her car.
“I initially got mad like ‘Oh my God I just got my car fixed. Oh my God, why me? Why me?’” Reit said.
From Reits account, the car hit the drivers side of her car before spinning out and hitting her right headlight. When she and the other driver pulled over to look at the damage, a good Samaritan also stopped to help.
As they were looking at the other driver's car, a fourth vehicle collided with the good Samaritan and the other woman, narrowly missing Reit and her car.
"Just seeing the car bypass me, miss me, and just go directly into them and see them get hit," remembered Reit. "It was hard knowing that I couldn’t help her, I was in shock."
According to a release from the Sheriff’s office, the man who stopped to help is in stable condition. The other driver died from her injuries.
The driver of the fourth vehicle that struck them both was arrested for Operating While Suspended-Causing Death and was taken into custody.
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“Just knowing it’s a couple day before Christmas, you lose a loved one and you’re supposed to spend time and be happy with your loved ones,” Reit said.
What was meant to be a simple drive home now a moment she says she will never forget.
“I just can’t stop replaying it, even talking about it, even sitting here,” she said. “Watching TV, even looking at my kids. It just plays back in my head; I can’t get it out.”
The mother of five recently accepted a job as a school bus driver; one that she’s now reconsidering after witnessing Friday’s fatal accident.
“I don’t want to be in an accident and [children’s lives] are in my hands. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I don’t know if I want to keep the job.”
Her message for drivers now is to stay off the roads in dangerous weather conditions, and for those driving to do so carefully.
“You can always find another job, but you can’t get another mom, dad, cousin,” Reit told TMJ4. “You won’t be able to get them back.”
According to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, both crashes remain under investigation.
