Neillsville Man Involved in Chain Reaction Crash Appears in Clark County Court
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019 -- 12:28 PM
-A Neillsville man charged for causing a chain reaction crash that resulted in the death of a Granton man appeared in Clark County Court on Monday.Back in July of 2017, three vehicles were stopped behind a semi on Highway 10 in the Township of Grant due to construction work. As they were waiting, another semi, driven by Roger Waltemate, was traveling east when he struck the rear most vehicle, a Jeep Liberty driven by 47-year-old Anthony Phipps. The Jeep came to rest in the ditch and the semi hit a Dodge Caravan, which caused it to hit the first vehicle in line, a Mercury Sable. The semi that was ahead of the Sable saw the other semi coming and had moved out of the way. Anthony Phipps was killed in the accident.
Authorities believe that Waltemate was distracted by his cell phone at the time of the accident. He claims that wasn’t the case. He’s been charged with 2nd degree reckless homicide, three counts of 1st degree recklessly endangering safety and two counts of 2nd degree recklessly endangering safety. During his arraignment on Monday, he entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him. He’s scheduled to be back in court on July 17th.
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