Pickup Kills 3 Girl Scouts, Adult Picking Up Trash

Another girl is in critical condition in Wisconsin
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 4, 2018 5:30 AM CST
Pickup Kills 3 Girl Scouts, Adult Picking Up Trash
Emergency medical personnel gather at the scene of a hit-and-run accident Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Lake Hallie, Wis.   (Steve Kinderman/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP)

It's another hard-to-fathom road accident involving kids. A pickup truck in rural Wisconsin veered off the road Saturday morning and struck a group of Girl Scouts and their chaperones who were picking up trash, reports the NBC News. Three fourth-graders and one adult woman were killed, and a fourth girl remains in critical condition, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Police say the driver fled but later surrendered. He has been identified as Colton Treu, 21, of Chippewa Falls, and Treu faces four counts of homicide through negligent use of a vehicle.

Police aren't sure what caused the accident. They say Treu's black Ford F-150 came over a hill, crossed a lane, swerved into a ditch, and struck the girls, who were wearing bright safety vests. "The area is not an unsafe area," says a sergeant with the Lake Hallie Police Department, about 95 miles east of Minneapolis, per the AP. But a local resident disagrees. “It’s dangerous,” he tells the Star-Tribune of that stretch. “People come flying over the hill.” (Last week, a spate of accidents occurred at a near school bus stops.)

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