Family of Kevin Newill wants road study, enhanced safety measures put into place at Chippewa county highway intersection

The family of an Eau Claire man named Kevin Newill is seeking a road study and enhanced safety measures put in place at the intersection of Highways X and G between Stanley and Boyd, after Newill was reported to have sustained life-threatening injuries as a passenger in a car struck by a school bus Friday afternoon. Skid marks were visible at the site Monday while orange roadway dots traced the trajectory of impact to the car’s passenger side.

The bus, which was used for 4K students according to Stanley-Boyd superintendent Jeff Koenig, was on its way back from Boyd to Stanley on Highway X when the crash occurred.

“They get transported from Boyd to here, and then they’re either picked up by their parents or put on a bus that takes them out to day care,” Koenig said of the school district’s 4K students, none of whom were said to be injured, although camera footage was also reported by one viewer to show bus riders being thrown forward as the car made a rolling stop before continuing along its way, prior to impact. Photos of the aftermath show a crumpled passenger side and windshield damage, while the snub-nosed school bus sustained front damage as well, if not as severe.

The car’s driver, reported to be named Bryce Winchell by family members of the passenger at X and G, was reportedly on his way to Stanley agt the time to pick up a child. Newill had been riding along after taking Winchell “under his wing,” a friend named Miriam said. No formal charges were posted against the reported car driver as of Monday on the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website.

With Newill reportedly in hospital in serious condition and possibly fatal injuries, initial reports are that the car driver didn’t see the bus coming from the east, while the intersection is similar to another one further north at the juncture of Highways O and G in that it combines a largely flat area (X) with a sloped gradient (G).

“There’s needs to be a four-way stop or a stoplight,” said Gerald Newill of Pennsylvania, father of the injured passenger from Friday afternoon’s crash. Mr. Newill had driven from Pennsylvania along with Barbara Newill (Kevin’s mother) and sister Fallon after being notified of the Friday afternoon crash by others. Passenger Kevin Newill remained in critical condition as of Monday afternoon.