MILWAUKEE — A Bay View woman is fighting for her life after getting caught in the middle of a drag race while crossing the street Saturday night.
Cara Corder, 33, was left lying in the road on S. Kinnickinnic Ave. near East Ruske Ave. as the two drivers sped off.
Corder’s friend and boss Chris Schulist told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin he was there when it happened, looking outside the window of his bar, the Wiggle Room.
He said at the time, it was hard to process what his eyes were seeing.
“I saw people freaking out and I came out,” he recalled. “I just remember like looking at everyone and being like what is — who is that?”
So, he started looking at the familiar people around him, his employees and bar regulars. That’s when he realized one face was missing from the group.
“I’m like Cara’s not here. Is that Cara,” he asked. “The people that hit her, just didn’t stop, didn’t even — didn’t even blink. They just kept going.”
Schulist was horrified.
Watch: Bartender hurt after street race hit-and-run:
“We ran out to the street,” he said holding back tears. “We had to — people were stopping traffic so she wouldn’t get hit again.”
The terrifying situation has Schulist and his neighbors raising the alarm about reckless driving.
Brian Redd lives a few doors down from the Wiggle Room.
“At a certain time of night it’s kind of anarchy, anything goes,” Redd said. “There’s no police presence and I don’t know why.”
Redd said he doesn’t park his own car on the street because he's seen enough to know that would be a risk.
“I’ve seen cars get completely smashed and then the drivers back off and drive away,” he explained. “Most of the time there’s no follow-up on it, they just get away with it.”
He said stories like that on Kinnickinnic are common and have been going on for years without a resolution. It’s why he wants to see a more active police presence in the area.
“I’d love to see somebody parked on this corner at night,” he said. “They see a cop sitting here and they know ‘Hey, we better not go down that road fast.’ That would be fantastic.”
Schulist wants to go a step further than increasing police presence, beginning with a speed bump.
“If there’s any place that would make sense to have a speed bump or anything like that it would be this drag,” he insisted. “You need something here, if they’re going 70 mph, that it’s gonna mess up their cars. That’s the only way that’s gonna stop them.”
He’s hoping to spare others from a fate, Corder is still fighting to overcome. In the meantime, Schulist said he’s clinging to every bit of good news about Corder’s condition that he can find.
“She’s being responsive. She’s moving her arm,” Corder shared. “I’m just glad she’s not dead, because really—I could have been standing over her dead body in the street that day.”
Milwaukee Police said they are investigating the hit and run. They confirmed two cars were racing and one of them struck a pedestrian crossing the street.
They said both unknown cars fled the scene. MPD is investigating the incident.
A gofundme has been set up by Corder’s friends to help the 33-year-old with hospital bills, rehabilitation costs, and living expenses on her difficult road to recovery.
The GoFundMe, which describes Corder as a Milwaukee treasure has raised over $40,000 so far.
For Schulist and other community members, Corder is more than deserving of the support because on top of her job at the Vanguard, and hosting art shows she’s always shows up to support her loved ones,
“She’s one of the hardest working people I know,” Schulist said.
In a Facebook post Saturday, area Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said her office is in communication with Milwaukee police.
Dimitrijevic said MPD’s District 6 will be increasing patrols in the area and that her office has asked the Department of Public Works to conduct a new analysis of the area along Kinnikinnic Ave.
“We send our most heartfelt thoughts to Cara, her family and her friends at the Vanguard,” Dimitrijevic wrote. “We can and must do better in our city."
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7219, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414)224-Tips/ or P3 Tips.
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