MILWAUKEE — On Christmas Eve, another crash along South Howell Avenue.
Robbie Mowrey was at home when she heard a loud noise right around midnight.
“I heard the familiar ‘boom’ sound again. A car rear ended a parked car out front, slammed it into a tree, and took off,” Mowrey recalled. She sent TMJ4 photos of the aftermath.
This is not the first time it’s happened. The same time last year, TMJ4’s Shaun Gallagher spoke to Mowrey when a car crashed into her neighbor’s home Christmas Day.
“I got sad because this happened last year Christmas Day and four years ago, Jamie Hanson was hit on the corner and passed away there on the driveway,” Mowrey frowned.
In 2019, Jamie Hanson was killed in a hit-and-run crash at the same spot while walking her dogs on South Howell Avenue. On last check, the driver still hasn’t been caught, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.
This is now the third crash at the spot in the past five years to happen during the Christmas holiday season.
“I just knew it was going to happen last night. I knew it,” Mowrey said.
TMJ4 has followed that stretch of road for months. According to the Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) Laboratory, the quarter-mile stretch of Howell Avenue between E. Deer Place and E. Montana Street has seen 37 crashes from 2013 to 2022.
Hanson’s death led to changes on the street including a lowered speed limit, from 30 mph to 25 mph, and added striped bike lanes.
Mowrey, who has lived there for roughly 30 years, said there needs to be more done.
“It doesn’t stop anything. I’m feeling like there’s negligence on part of the city. We do pay taxes for people that are smart so they have to come up with something,” Morwey said, frustrated.
Down the street, a new crosswalk was installed to slow drivers. It is raised to include a speed hump.
Still, the flowers at Jamie Hanson’s memorial, the dents on trees, and debris in the street, all on the holiday, is enough to make Mowrey fear for the future.
“We’re scared when we shovel and scared when we cut the grass,” Mowrey said. “What do we do?”
TMJ4 reached out to Milwaukee Police to see if there were any reported injuries and to learn more about what led up to this year's crash. We did not hear back by deadline.
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