An Ashwaubenon Public Safety officer is in critical but stable condition after being hit by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver over the weekend.
Officer Brian Murphy was responding as back up to the scene of a vehicle fire along Interstate 41 Saturday night, when he was struck by a vehicle driven by 28-year-old Kalin McGuire of Greenleaf.
Captain Jody Crocker said Murphy, a two-year veteran of the department, was wearing his reflective safety vest. “He had his emergency lights lit, along with cones and flares out on the roadway to divert traffic at the scene of a vehicle fire.”
Crocker said the 34-year-old Murphy was then hit by a vehicle and found on the side of the road by a fellow officer. He was transported to a local hospital where he received life-saving surgery.
Chief Eric Dunning says this is the first time in over 20 years that one of their officers didn’t make it home at the end of the day. “Saturday night, one of ours didn’t go home. As a son, a father, a husband, we want him to go home and that’s our goal,” said Dunning.
McGuire has been arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants causing injury and failure to yield for an emergency vehicle.
The Brown County Sheriff and the Wisconsin State Patrol is conducting the crash investigation.
WTAQ