Rock County officials release names of Magnolia crash victims
TOWN OF MAGNOLIA — Rock County Sheriff's Office officials have released the names of the one person who died and two others who were injured in a two-vehicle crash Wednesday morning in the town of Magnolia south of Evansville.
Matthew Kraft 23, South Wayne, was pronounced dead at the scene on Highway 59, two-tenths of a mile east of Highway 104, according to the news release.
A passenger in Kraft's Chevrolet Malibu, Joshua Swenson, 24, Evansville, was transported to University Hospital, Madison, with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to the news release.
Gregory Schultz, 51, Monroe, was transported to Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center, Janesville, with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to the news release.
Sheriff's deputies from Rock and Green counties, Evansville police, fire and EMS, Albany fire and Brooklyn EMS were dispatched at 5:24 a.m. to the scene.
Deputies found a 1998 Pontiac Bonneville about 15 feet off the road in the south ditch with heavy front-end damage. Schultz was trapped inside the car. A 2007 Chevrolet Malibu also was on its passenger side in the middle of the roadway. Kraft and Swenson were trapped in the Malibu.
The sheriff's office said Kraft was driving west, approaching a curve when his car entered the north shoulder. He corrected his motion and the car spun counter-clockwise and slid sideways into the eastbound lane, where its front passenger side hit the eastbound Bonneville.
The Malibu overturned and came to rest on its passenger side. The Bonneville entered the south ditch.
Kraft was not wearing his seat belt, and speed is believed to be a contributing factor, the sheriff's office reported. Deputies don't expect to issue citations in the crash.
The curved portion of Highway 59 was closed for about five hours while the Rock County Accident Reconstruction Team studied the scene. Traffic was able to use the small frontage road to Highway 104.
