LAKE HALLIE, WI. (THECOUNT) — Colton Treu, of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, has been identified as the driver in a Saturday crash involving a group of Girl Scouts who were picking up trash off-road in a ditch in Lake Hallie, a town about 95 miles (153 kilometers) east of Minneapolis.
Treu, 21, was operating a pickup truck that lurched off a western Wisconsin road Saturday and hit a group of Girl Scouts. The crash left three girls and one adult dead and critically injuring a fourth girl, police said.
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Sgt. Daniel Sokup of the Lake Hallie Police Department said the driver of the black Ford F-150 pickup truck fled the scene but later turned himself in. He identified the driver as Colton Treu, 21, of Chippewa, Falls, Wisconsin. Sokup said Treu will be charged with four counts of homicide through the negligent use of a vehicle. It was not clear why the vehicle veered off the road, but local residents said the road in the area was dangerous and there had been numerous accidents there. source
The crash happened late Saturday morning as the girls were picking up litter in a ditch
The girls were in the fourth grade at Halmstad Elementary School, located at South Avenue, in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Two of the girls and the woman were pronounced dead at the scene.
A third Girl Scout was transported to a hospital where she later died, Sokup said. The fourth girl was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
The investigation is ongoing.
Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 13,661 at the 2010 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa County, according to Wikipedia.