Three die, three injured in New Berlin crash

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New Berlin - Three people were killed and three others were injured Sunday morning in a two-car crash at the intersection of S. Sunny Slope Road and W. Glencove Parkway, police said.

Of the survivors, one had to be transported to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa by Flight for Life, according to police. Two others were taken to other hospitals.

Police did not release the names, ages or hometowns of the crash victims pending notification of relatives.

The accident happened at 9:43 a.m. when a Chrysler 300 driving north on S. Sunny Slope Road left the roadway to the right and struck a Ford Focus that was stopped at the stop sign at Glencove Parkway, according to police. The Chrysler continued over a dip on the north side of Glencove Parkway and Sunny Slope and careened between two pine trees 30 to 40 feet into a yard on the northeast side.

The three who died were among four people who were in the stopped vehicle, police said. The two people in the vehicle that struck the Focus were injured and taken to the hospital.

"I was in bed. I heard this crushing noise. Moments later, I heard the police cars. It was devastating," said Cui Li, who lives in the house with her parents on the property where the car came to rest. Her parents were shopping. "I called them. I said there was a car in the backyard. There was an accident."

Several neighbors walked past the crash site Sunday. Broken glass and debris were strewn about the intersection.

A neighbor, Pat Czaplewski, said he spoke to a key witness who was driving behind the Chrysler when the crash occurred.

"The person who caused the accident was driving pretty erratically. He was going way too fast," Czaplewski said.

The intersection has stop signs controlling traffic on Glencove Parkway, which leads into the Greenwood subdivision. On Sunny Slope, where the speed limit is 35 mph, a short lane leading up to the intersection on the right allows drivers to pass around cars turning left.

"It looks like the car was trying to do that curve thing," said another neighbor, who did not want his name used. "I heard the screeching. It was quite the thud. I got my coat on and started getting up the median. I was only a few feet away. I thought, 'I'll go get some blankets.' "

He didn't get that far before police and firefighters arrived. The neighbor said he's heard of and experienced several accidents at the same intersection in the 22 years he's lived there, including one seven or eight years ago in which four teenage girls were injured, he said.

"It's a bad intersection," he said. "It's people driving too fast."

Police are still investigating.