Highway worker, others injured in I-39/90 crashes; 4 killed

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Authorities released the names on Wednesday of four people who were killed and seven who were injured in a series of crashes on Interstate 39/90 near Lodi on Friday.

A highway maintenance worker and two state troopers were seriously injured in the series of three distinct incidents that took place on the interstate early Friday morning.

At about 4 a.m. Friday, officers responded to a rear-end crash between two semis on the roadway. About an hour later, a truck plowed into the initial crash scene, seriously injuring a Colombia County highway worker and two state troopers.

Then, at about 6:45 a.m., a semi-truck traveling at highway speeds caused a series of crashes involving at least seven vehicles — two other semis, a dump truck and a four passenger vehicles — while drivers were passing through the site of the previous wrecks.

Among those who died were the semi-truck driver Phillip Bruno, 55, of Ingleside, Illinois; and three drivers of passenger cars: Eleanor Heeringa-Owen, 59, of DeForest; Samantha McMullen, 23, of Oconomowoc; and Joseph Kosinski, 72, of Madison.

Three others were transported to UW Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Ross Kopfer, 50, of Oconomowoc, and a 10-year old boy were injured while driving a pickup truck in the crash. The dump-truck driver Clayton Mortenson, 24, of Poynette, was also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Four other people involved in the crash weren’t seriously injured and were not taken to the hospital for treatment.