UPDATE: Racine County Sheriff Involved in 4-Vehicle Accident

Reported by Patch Editor Denise Lockwood

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and his daughter Samantha were involved in a four-vehicle accident Friday afternoon at county Highways V and C in Mount Pleasant.

Schmaling and his daughter, who were on their way back from volunteering at a Cops and Kids golf outing, were not injured in the chain-reaction crash. There do not appear to be other injuries, although a South Shore Fire Department ambulance was on the scene.

The accident occurred at 1:37 p.m. when the driver of a Toyota Corolla south on Highway V ran a stop sign and struck a Union Grove Lumber truck that was westbound on Highway C, according to the driver of that truck and a sheriff's deputy.

The truck spun around and then struck Schmaling's Ford Expedition, which was eastbound on Highway C. A fourth car swerved to avoid the accident and wound up in a ditch.

The driver of the Corolla was ticketed for failing to stop at a stop sign, the deputy said.

"Immediately the driver of the silver car ran up to me and asked if we were OK and saying it was his fault," Schmaling said. "He thought it was a four-way stop and he said he was really sorry."

Schmaling told the driver he and Samantha were OK, but he needed to pull himself together.

"I'm just really happy no one was seriously injured," he said.

Schmaling was driving a Ford Expedition, which is owned by the Sheriff's Department. The engine was broken off of the mounts and Schmaling couldn't open the driver's side door.

"I told the driver of the silver car, this thing (the squad) is a wreck, but we're all going to be OK," Schmaling said. "He was really taking this hard."


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