UPDATE, May 8, 2012: Search warrant may explain why woman was lying in street when killed
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When I first heard about this story on Sunday, few details were available. All I knew was that a mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident and hours later her son was killed in a rollover accident just a few blocks away.
Here's a map illustrating the scenes, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
How terribly tragic for the family to lose two members so unexpectedly and only within hours of each other!
On Monday, I heard more media reports about the accidents. It sounded as if the mother was simply crossing the street and was hit by a drunk driver and the son was also killed by a drunk driver.
Sadly, the details of the accidents show the mother and son made some poor choices, too.
From 620 WTMJ:
New details emerged Monday in a case of an eerie and tragic coincidence in West Allis, and the allegedly drunk drivers in both incidents may face charges.
Two separate traffic accidents in a matter of five hours killed a mother and son. Mary Moore, 45, and Thomas Olson, 22 were killed in the crashes.
The first was a hit and run crash in the 1500 block of 81st Street just south of Greenfield Avenue just before 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Moore had been drinking, left a bar and was walking near that area when a vehicle struck her.
According to preliminary information that the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office received from West Allis Police, a witness said they saw "the striking vehicle go over an unknown object 'like a speed bump' and drove off. The witness did not realize that it was a body until they were closer."
"She was just in the roadway, and most likely lying down, and we don't know why," said West Allis Deputy Chief Charles Padgett.
The driver suspected of hitting Moore was arrested for leaving the scene of the crash.
People who live on South 81st Street are blaming both the intersection and distracted driving for the events that led up to the deadly crash.
I'm glad the driver suspected of hitting Moore and leaving the scene was found and arrested.
I wonder what was Moore doing lying in the street.
I'm certainly not making excuses for the illegal behavior of the driver, but it obviously wasn't safe for Moore to be where she was.
Is it possible she collapsed in the street because of some medical reason?
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a relative told the investigator on the case that Moore had "struggled with drugs."
...Then, around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, Olson was killed in a rollover crash near the corner of South 90th Street and West National Avenue.
That crash also led to injuries to others who were riding in the SUV.
"My information was that they were going to the hospital," Padgett told TODAY'S TMJ4's Nick Montes.
He did not know she had been pronounced dead at the scene of her crash.
The Medical Examiner said Monday morning that he was ejected from the vehicle. According to their report, that SUV was going about 90 miles per hour on Becher Street when it approached National Avenue.
The driver in that crash was also arrested for drunk driving.
I'm sure Moore's son, Thomas Olson, was very upset about his mother.
While the WTMJ story says the vehicle Olson was in was going 90 miles per hour, the Journal Sentinel report says it was going 60. Another difference in the reports is that Olson knew his mother was dead when he started out for the hospital.
Olson and his friends are out when West Allis police arrive at his apartment. They tell [Olson's fiancée, Latricia Jansen,] that Olson's mother is dead. Jansen calls Olson.
Olson and his friends speed toward Aurora West Allis Medical Center. They are estimated to be traveling about 60 mph when the Jeep smashes into a parked dump truck in the 9000 block of W. National Ave. The Jeep lands on its roof in somebody's yard.
Olson is the only one of the four who is fatally injured. He dies in an ambulance shortly before arriving at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.
Less than four hours after Mary Jane Moore dies, her son dies, too.
Police arrest the driver of the Grand Prix for leaving the scene and the driver of the Jeep for operating while intoxicated. Both matters have been referred to the Milwaukee County district attorney's office.
From previous media reports, I was under the impression that Olson was in a car hit by a drunk driver, not the passenger of drunk driver traveling at such a high speed.
The driver put his passengers at risk and everyone else on the road.
Olson must have been grief-stricken, but he clearly used poor judgment. And Moore was experiencing some sort of problem to be lying in the street like that. According to the details available at this time, Moore and Olson took certain risks and they paid with their lives.
While some details about the circumstances of their deaths differ in the media reports, the outcome of both accidents isn't in question. Mother and son are both dead. That's tragic.
It must be unbearably painful for the family and their friends. They've suffered a sudden, horrible loss. Assuming alcohol played a role in both accidents, they have to struggle with the knowledge that their deaths could have been avoided.
They must be overwhelmed with grief.
Don't drink and drive.
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