MILWAUKEE — Two people were killed in a crash on I-94 eastbound near 35th Street overnight, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office.
The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. and resulted in a full eastbound closure on I-94 from 2:30 a.m. until about 7 a.m. Saturday.
MCSO said a wrong-way driver in an SUV crashed into a sedan, head-on. When deputies responded, they found the wrong-way driver's vehicle and the sedan with severe front-end damage.
A witness stopped at the crash on her way home to help. She wished to stay anonymous after what she saw.
“The engine was smoking. I was afraid it was going to blow up,” the witness said.
The witness and a few others stopped, trying to pull the people from the vehicles.
“I could feel he wanted to live. At one point, I held his hand and said ‘you’re going to be okay, just breathe’. I really thought he was going to be okay. It seemed like he was fighting to hold on.”
The driver of the sedan, a 46-year-old man, had to be extricated from the vehicle and died on the scene. The wrong-way driver was taken to a local hospital where he later died. The 46-year-old man was identified as Christopher Van Cleve by the medical examiner.
The 46-year-old has been identified as Christopher Vancleve and the 36-year-old was identified as Rei Reynosa, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to TMJ4 News.
TMJ4’s Kaylee Staral spoke with Vancleve’s family over the phone who said he was a huge family man and will be missed.
MCSO said it is continuing to investigate the crash but it appears the wrong-way driver entered the interstate going west on the eastbound lanes somewhere between the Marquette Interchange and N. 13th Street.
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