A major crash shut down the freeway on I-94 in Brookfield during the morning drive and Flight for Life was called to rush a man to the hospital. It had commuters looking for alternate ways to navigate around the backup that lasted for hours.
Around 8 a.m. Friday morning, Waukesha County 911 Communications Dispatch started getting reports of a bad crash.
Dispatch: “Multiple callers reporting the vehicle struck the guardrail, rolled, and flipped into the ditch into the ravine there."
Mike Bartz was making his commute Friday morning and had made it as far as the Goerke's Corners Park & Ride when he noticed something was happening.
"The traffic was coming to a stop right there. And a squad car over here was stopping the traffic from coming in,” said Bartz.
He said he realized the highway was no longer an option. Waukesha County Sheriff's Office says the vehicle's driver, a 44-year-old man, was thrown from the car, and Flight for Life was called to the crash.
“They didn't have any lanes open. Everything was blocked off,” said Bartz.
The highway was shut down for the helicopter to land. While the man was taken quickly to the hospital, crews remained on the scene for hours.
Jay O'Neil had flown into Milwaukee Friday morning and was trying to get home to Madison. He didn’t know the highway had shut down when they headed west on I-94.
“We are tired. We were supposed to be here yesterday,” said O'Neil.
They stopped to get coffee right before the backup, unsure what the problem was. We helped them find a different way to go through Waukesha.
"With your kind help we're gonna find another route at least to try and get past it,” said O'Neil.
We did reach out to the sheriff's office for more details on the cause of the crash. They said everything is still under investigation.
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