VIROQUA, Wis. – Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson reports early Saturday evening, April 27, at 5:51 p.m., a deputy sheriff on patrol came upon a serious, two-vehicle crash on US Highway 14, near Offerdahl Road, rural Viroqua, WI, in the town of Franklin.
Brett Lee Burkum, 38, of Viroqua, Wis, was driving a 2020 Kia Stinger, traveling north, and veered into the southbound lane and struck a 2002 Jeep Cherokee driven by Chloe Rose Billington, 20, of Soldiers Grove, Wis.
Billington sustained serious injuries and was transported to Gundersen Health System, in La Crosse, Wis., by Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance. Burkum was also injured and transported to Vernon Memorial Healthcare, in Viroqua by Readstown Emergency Medical Service.
US Highway 14 was closed between State Highway 27 south of Viroqua, and the US Highway 61 intersection in Readstown for approximately 5.5 hours.
Assisting the Sheriff’s Office were the Viroqua Fire Department, Viroqua Emergency Medical Responders, Readstown Fire Department and Readstown Emergency Medical Service, Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance, Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin State Patrol Technical Reconstruction Unit. Sheriff Torgerson would also like to recognize and thank the many motorists that stopped to render aid.
Alcohol was a factor in this crash and formal charges against Burkum will be sought through Vernon County District Attorney Angela Palmer-Fisher.
The crash remains under investigation by the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office.
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