The Chippewa County Sheriff's Department says a deputy is dead after a vehicle hit him while he was directing traffic near the scene of a semi fire.

Sheriff James Kowalczyk says 31-year-old Jason S. Zunker was setting up traffic control on Highway 53, and was hit by a southbound vehicle around 9:45 p.m.

Kowalczyk says deputies responded to the semi fire on southbound Highway 53 near mile marker 110 in the Township of Woodmohr shortly after 9:30 p.m.

He says Deputy Zunker and an officer from the Wisconsin State Patrol were sent to an area on southbound Highway 53, just North of Highway 40, after traffic volume and control became a concern.

The sheriff says Zunker was taken to Bloomer Hospital, then airlifted to Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, where he died at 12:10 p.m. from head injuries.

Zunker has served with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department since March, 2004.

Deputies say the driver who hit Zunker is 21-year-old Erika R. Kressin of Chippewa Falls. They say she is being questioned about the incident, but has not yet been charged or placed under arrest. Deputies say there will be a lengthy investigation into the incident.

http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/13190042.html#