Milwaukee, Wis. Officer Came to Partner's Aid in Interstate Crash

Katie Anderer and Joshua Albert are Milwaukee police officers, and since December they have patrolled together as partners.

Each night at midnight, when their shift ended, they would get in their own vehicles and head for home - Anderer on the city's south side and Albert downtown. They had a habit of cruising close together along the expressway, usually with Anderer in front and Albert right behind her. When you watch each other's back all evening on the job, it's hard to turn that off.

On Sept. 5, fate reversed that order. Anderer was behind Albert as they headed east on I-94 near 30th St. She never saw the wrong-way westbound car coming at them in their lanes, and Albert was unable to get out of the way.

"I saw the collision," Anderer said.

She pulled to the side and nervously waited as other speeding cars and trucks did their best to avoid plowing into the wreckage. A semi driver had the presence of mind to block all three lanes with his truck until emergency help arrived.

Anderer reported the crash on her portable police radio, and soon squads from the 3rd District where she works swarmed to the scene, along with paramedics and firefighters.

When it was safe, Anderer got out of her Suburban and ran to Albert's car. He was trapped inside and seriously injured, but conscious. He asked her to contact his family.

"I said, 'Stay with me here. Keep talking to me.' He was sweating profusely. I said, 'Do you want me to sing to you?' "Anderer recalls. The two teased about that because Anderer would sometimes break into song in their squad car during quiet times on the job.

The wrong-way driver also was trapped in her mangled car and injured. She is 23-year-old Erin M. Salmon of Milwaukee. Surveillance video shows her driving up the wrong ramp onto I-94 at Van Buren St. She drove more than two miles the wrong way before the crash.

Salmon is charged with recklessly endangering safety and causing injury by driving drunk. She has pleaded not guilty. Court documents say she hit two other cars the same night before getting on the freeway, resulting in more charges.

We have been hearing how often this wrong-way stuff happens. In Milwaukee County alone, the Sheriff's Department has responded to 29 incidents of wrong-way drivers this year. People who are drunk or too confused to drive safely are using off-ramps to get on the freeway, sometimes with deadly results.

Last week, Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. announced that certain troublesome ramps will get detectors that will send an alert when someone is driving the wrong way. Some wrong-way signs will be accented with blinking lights. In the future, motorists may get reverse 911 alerts or highway message board warnings that a wrong-way driver is out there.

Anderer is married to a police officer, Doug Anderer, and is the mother of three children. She rode in the ambulance with Albert to Froedtert Hospital and waited outside the operating room for hours. She said her partner's pelvis was split, his right ankle and left food were shattered, his diaphragm was ruptured, and he had bleeding on the brain. His memory of the crash has been wiped away for now.

Last week, five weeks after the crash, Albert finally went home. It's a new place without stairs. It will be awhile until he's able to walk, and quite awhile until he can return to work.

Anderer calls Albert an awesome cop.

"He's a fighter," she said. "No matter what the doctors say, there's no doubt in my mind that he will be sitting next to me as partners again."

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at [email protected] HELPING HAND A fundraiser for injured Milwaukee police Officer Joshua Albert, featuring comedy, music and a silent auction, will be Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave. A $20 donation at the door is suggested.

Comedian and Milwaukee native Dobie Maxwell is pulling the event together. In 1993, he also was seriously injured by a drunken driver. Maxwell will perform at the show, along with Phil Dunham, Russ Martin and Jason Evans. Officer Albert is planning to attend. Among the many auction items are a Super Bowl program autographed by Aaron Rodgers, two tickets to the Packers-Vikings game Dec. 2, and guitars signed by country stars Kenny Chesney and the duo Big & Rich.

More Stingl online Go to jsonline.com/video to see Jim Stingl's video columns.

She never saw the wrong-way westbound car coming at them in their lanes, and Albert was unable to get out of the way.