2 men fled scene of crash in Beaver Dam, running to home, where 1 man died



DODGE COUNTY -- 27-year-old Timothy Price of Beaver Dam died from injuries suffered in a wreck early Sunday, February 26th. Another 27-year-old Beaver Dam man in the vehicle was also hurt.

Officials with the Dodge County Sheriff's Office said the wreck happened just after 3:00 a.m. on County Highway D near Zimmerman Drive in the Township of Beaver Dam.

"I didn't think it was that serious looking at first," Gloria Hartwig said.



A preliminary investigation revealed the driver, Price, was headed westbound on County Highway D near the intersection with Zimmerman Drive. The vehicle traveled left of the centerline of the roadway and crossed over the eastbound lane of County Highway D. Officials said the vehicle gradually entered the snow-covered south side ditch, and began to rotate in a clockwise manner. The vehicle continued westbound in the snow-covered ditch before striking a utility pole.

"The driver's door was dented in. The telephone pole was laying on top of the car," Hartwig said.

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt



"The car hit that pole right at the base and it just tumbled right over top of the car," Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said.

Officials said both occupants of the vehicle exited the vehicle and ran approximately a half mile to the home of the driver on County Highway D. Both men received significant injuries as a result of the crash. Once at the home, Price became unresponsive and was later pronounced dead. The other man was transported to Beaver Dam Community Hospital for treatment of his injuries.



"We see that far too often where somebody has been under the influence of alcohol and they don't want to be caught and they take that gamble of going home and trying to call it in later or come up with different excuses like it was stolen, but when you have injuries like this, you need to take care of yourself and make sure you can go home safely at the end of the day and we don't have a tragedy like we do here," Sheriff Schmidt said.

"We don't like to people getting hurt out here -- especially as young as the person apparently was," Hartwig said.



Investigators say alcohol and speed are factors in this crash. The crash remains under investigation by the Dodge County Crash Investigation Team.