WISCONSIN EMERGENCY WORKERS URGE CAUTION AFTER DEPUTY STRUCK AND KILLED

Emergency workers urged drivers to slow down and give them room after a sedan hit a Chippewa County deputy directing traffic around a truck fire Friday night. Jason S. Zunker, 31, died Saturday at an Eau Claire hospital.

The Wisconsin State Patrol is investigating the accident and has questioned a 21-year-old Chippewa Falls woman identified as the driver. No charges have been filed yet.

Zunker's death raised bad memories for Lee McMenamin, whose wife was struck and killed by a passing van after she pulled over a speeding driver. Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper Deborah McMenamin died Oct. 26, 1989 at age 31.

"It's been many years for me, but things like this open up new wounds," McMenamin said Saturday. "It's something I live with every day."

A third Chippewa Valley officer was similarly killed in 1993. Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper William Schoenberger, also 31, had stopped to direct traffic around a vehicle fire on Interstate 94 when a semi truck hit his squad car with him in it. He died of head injuries five days later.

"It's just needless injuries and death to the men and women who are trying to make the roads safer," Eau Claire County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Miescke said. "I've spent a lot of years on the roadways, and it's scary. People don't slow down and don't get over."

McMenamin is a Wisconsin State Patrol captain who oversees more than 100 troopers in the DeForest office. "I think about them constantly," he said. "Every time my phone rings at night, my mind flashes first to _ have one of them been hurt?"

Wisconsin's Move Over Law requires drivers to change lanes or slow down for stopped emergency and maintenance vehicles. Drivers who fail to yield to emergency crews face a $249 fine. They can serve up to seven years in prison if they hurt or kill someone. Officers said most injuries occur when drivers are hurried or distracted.

"There's getting to be more and more distractions with cell phones and navigation units," Miescke said. Ben Boeckmann, a tow truck driver with I-94 Towing in Eau Claire, said he often sees drivers talking on cell phones or reading. "Paying attention is probably the biggest thing," he said. "That would be a good start."