Taylor Skendziel, the driver seriously injured Wednesday in a two-car accident in Raymond, has passed away from her injuries.
A source close to the family told Racine County Eye Thursday that Skendziel, 17, was driving two friends – Charlee Warner and Sadie Regep, both 15 – to their Union Grove High School JV softball banquet at the time of the accident.
Skendziel also played softball with the Sturtevant Youth Baseball Association; Regep as well. The accident and news about Skendziel is hitting the SYBA family hard; just about a year ago, 13-year-old Sara Dresen – also an SYBA softball player – died after getting hit by a drunk driver.
“We’re taking it rough … it’s like deja vu with it almost a year ago since Sara died,” Racine County Eye was told.
By Thursday morning, friends had established a gofundme.com page to help with Taylor’s medical expenses. They updated the post Thursday evening.
“Taylor sadly passed away this evening. Heaven has been given a new angel. You touched so many lives tater tot! May God Bless you and your family. #RIPTaylor,” the page reads.
According to a press release from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched around 6 p.m. Wednesday to the intersection of 2-Mile Road and Highway U for multiple reports of an accident involving two vehicles.
When officers and fire/rescue from Raymond, Union Grove and Wind Lake arrived, they found a 58-year-old male driver in a 2003 Honda Pilot SUV and three teenage girls in a 2003 Dodge Neon; Skendziel, Warner and Regep.
The male driver suffered minor injuries, but two of the three girls were determined to have life-threatening injuries. Skendziel was taken by Flight for Life to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee while Warner was taken to Children’s Hospital, also in Milwaukee, and Regep was taken to Wheaton Franciscan St. Mary’s with minor injuries.
Investigators determined that the driver of the SUV failed to stop of the stop sign, colliding with the Dodge while it traveled south on Highway U.