Music education major dies in collision
Bus carrying Chippewa Falls High School faculty,students crashes when returning from state band competition
Nathaniel Shuda
Issue date: 10/17/05 Section: Campus News
|
Senior Branden Atherton, along with four other people, died when the charter bus carrying students, faculty members and chaperones from Chippewa Falls High School crashed into the undercarriage of an overturned semi truck around 2 a.m. on Interstate 94 just north of Osseo, according to school officials and the Wisconsin State Patrol.
| "We haven't ruled anything out.." -Douglas Notbohm Northwest regional commander of the Wisconsin State Patrol |
Members of the Chippewa Falls High School marching band were returning from a state band competition in Whitewater when the crash occurred.
Atherton was a student teacher at Chippewa Falls High School and a music education major at Eau Claire.
The truck left the travel portion of the westbound lane, overturned and jackknifed across both westbound lanes, blocking the highway, said Capt. Douglas Notbohm, northwest regional commander of the Wisconsin State Patrol.
The Chippewa Trails motor coach, the first of four different chartered motor coaches returning from the competition, crashed into the overturned semi, Notbohm said.
School officials announced the names of the five fatalities after the memorial service and after the state patrol released the information. They include Atherton, 24; the high school's band director, Doug Greenhalgh, 48; his wife, Therese Greenhalgh, 51, both of Chippewa Falls; and their granddaughter, Morgan Greenhalgh, 11. The bus driver, Paul Rasmus, 78, of Chippewa Falls, also died.
Six of the 29 injured passengers remain in the hospital, school officials said to those gathered for the memorial service. These individuals received multiple serious injuries and will undergo further surgeries in the coming days, officials said.
Respond teams from the Osseo police and fire departments, the Eau Claire fire department, Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties and the Wisconsin State Patrol all were present at the scene, Notbohm said.