Three injured in wrong-way crash near Elk Mound

By LeAnn R. Ralph

ELK MOUND — Three men in a 1999 Mercury passenger car were injured when they collided with a semi-tractor trailer while going the wrong way on Interstate 94 near Elk Mound.

The crash occurred at 11:04 p.m. on Tuesday, October 15, at mile marker 52 in the eastbound lane.

Jesse Ramirez, 25, Isidro S. Sierra, 35, and Miguel A. Azua, 32, were injured when their car collided with the semi on I-94.

The semi driver, Donald A. Drusch, 35, from Blaine, Minn., was not injured in accident.

In addition to the Wisconsin State Patrol, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, the Colfax Rescue Squad, and the Elk Mound Fire Department assisted at the accident scene.

According to a report from the Wisconsin State Patrol, shortly after 11 p.m., troopers responded to a report of a vehicle traveling west in the eastbound lane, but before they were able to get the vehicle stopped, it collided with the semi.

Just prior to the accident, the semi driver took evasive action to avoid striking the car, according to the state patrol report.

Ramirez, the driver of the vehicle, was transported to Luther Hospital in Eau Claire with non-life-threatening injuries.

Sierra and Azua, the passengers in the vehicle, were transported to Sacred Heart Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Ramirez was subsequently arrested and charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and causing injury, operating without a valid driver’s license, traveling the wrong way on the freeway, failure to have insurance and failure to wear a seat belt.

The accident report lists all three occupants of the car as being residents of Texas.

The semi driver, who was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, was not charged with any violations.