By: Kim Mikus/ Dailey Herald Staff
A suburban man was killed and two of his friends were seriously injured in a one-vehicle accident in Wisconsin over the weekend.
Alexander M. Hartung, 21, of DeKalb, died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash that occurred Sunday night in Wisconsin on Highway K in the town of Bass Lake. Hartung, a 2005 Stevenson High School graduate, was a passenger in the car.
Mark A. Rhine, 22, of Buffalo Grove, was driving a 1995 Dodge Intrepid when it crashed into a tree, according to a Sawyer County Sheriff's Department release. Rhine was airlifted to St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, Minn.
Passenger Paul M. Mesher, 23, of Arlington Heights, was taken to Hayward Area Memorial Hospital and later air lifted to a hospital in Minneapolis Minn., police said Wednesday.
Hartung was flown to St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth, Minn. where he died.
Two of the men were believed to be students at Northern Illinois University, police said.
The sheriff's department reported that a deputy was on patrol at about 7 p.m. Sunday and noticed a car had crashed into a tree. Police said a witness saw the accident who told them it occurred just moments earlier.
It appears the vehicle was headed eastbound on County Road K at a high rate of speed, police said. Alcohol was believed play a role in the crash, according to police.
The driver lost control on a corner at the junction of County Road K and Trails End Resort Road, according to the release. The car crossed the road and collided backward into a tree causing severe damage to the car.