FOR CITY TIMES

WAUSAU — Three people are dead after a semi truck collided with an SUV. The crash occurred Aug. 22 at 3:35 p.m. on Highway 21 at the intersection with Highway Z near Arkdale in northwest Adams County.

According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, 74-year-old Earl McCarthy of Lindenhurst, IL was driving the SUV north on Highway Z. He had stopped for the stop sign at Highway 21, then pulled slowly forward onto Highway 21, where the left front corner of his vehicle was hit by the semi tractor trailer, driven by 37-year-old Andriedy Montesino Hernandez from Davie, FL. The semi was traveling at full speed, and Hernandez had swerved to try avoiding a collision. The semi entered the westbound ditch and rolled onto its side. Metal debris from the crash flew into an unoccupied SUV parked in the lot of a nearby gas station, located near the intersection.   

Hernandez, McCarthy, and his passenger – 68-year-old Diana McCarthy from Lindenhurst, IL – were pronounced dead at the scene. The McCarthy’s were wearing seatbelts. Hernandez was not.

Assisting the Wisconsin State Patrol were the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Adams County Medical Examiner, Adams County Highway Department, Adams County and Quincy Fire Departments, Friendship and Rome EMS, and Gunderson Air med-flight service.

The State Patrol is investigating and reconstructing the crash.