WTMJ
Water Street victim shares her story with the world
MILWAUKEE -- In a new video on social media, Chloe Handrich, one of the young ladies who was hit and seriously injured on Milwaukee's Water Street th…
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Milwaukee Woman Recounts Life-Altering Reckless Driving Crash and Fight for Justice
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Chloe Handrich, a recent college graduate, has come forward to share her deeply personal and harrowing account of a life-altering reckless driving crash that profoundly changed her life in July. The incident, which occurred on Water Street in Milwaukee, involved Handrich and her friend Samantha Zygajner being struck by a fast-moving vehicle that reportedly bypassed a police barricade. Handrich, who had just celebrated her graduation from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with degrees in psychology and biology, described the immediate aftermath as excruciating. She sustained a shattered pelvis, a tibia fractured beyond repair that required a donor cadaver bone, a punctured and collapsed lung, a grade four liver laceration, and a severe concussion. Furthermore, she experienced major internal bleeding, necessitating seven blood transfusions. Her recovery journey has been arduous, involving two surgeries, each exceeding five hours, and an extended hospital stay of 15 days across a surgical intensive care unit and a trauma orthopedics unit. Confined to a hospital bed in a makeshift room at home, Handrich was entirely dependent on her family for all personal care due to her inability to bear weight on her legs. She recounted enduring months of constant, unbearable pain, and emphasized that her physical and mental recovery is ongoing. Handrich expressed significant frustration with the lack of accountability from the city and police departments regarding the incident. 'The lack of accountability, the lack of justice, makes everything so much worse,' she stated, highlighting her belief that public support is now the primary avenue for achieving justice. She extended heartfelt gratitude to the community for their overwhelming support and donations to her GoFundMe campaign, which has been vital in covering her substantial medical expenses. Handrich concluded by affirming her and her friend's resilience, vowing to continue fighting for justice and acknowledging that their lives have been irrevocably changed by this reckless act.
