Driver who hit Scouts on WIs. road was 'huffing,' officials say



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A western Wisconsin pickup truck driver had been "huffing" chemical vapors shortly before he hit the road.

Colton Treu, 21, Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County Sheriff's Sgt. Chippewa County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Jensen. Treu fled the scene before turning himself in later Saturday.

Also Monday, authorities released the identities of those killed in the crash at 11:40 am along County Road P near the Hwy. 29 overpass in Lake Hallie, roughly 95 miles east of Minneapolis.

Jayna S. Kelley, 9, of Lake Hallie; Autumn A. Helgeson, 10, of Lake Hallie; and Haylee J. Hickle, 10, and her mother, Sara Jo Schneider, 32, both from Lafayette.

A 10-year-old girl stays hospitalized in stable condition. Her identity has yet to be disclosed.

Treu was speeding north on County Road in his pickup when it was over a shallow ditch where some of the fourth graders and the mother were collecting as part of an "Adopt-A-Highway" group of 12 walking along both sides of the road, according to police and witnesses.

Two girls and the mother were dead at the scene. Two other girls were taken by ground and air ambulances to a hospital, where they died Saturday. The other girl is in a stable condition.

The group of seven girls and five parents, and all were in the ditch and had on "highly visible" green safety vests, according to a police statement Monday.

A sheriff's deputy "diligently tracked" vehicle fluids from the scene roughly 1 3/4 miles north to a residence in Chippewa Falls, the statement read.

Law enforcement located in the garage, but Treu and a passenger.

Nearly five hours after the crash, Treu turned himself into the police. His passenger, whose identity has yet to be released, surrendered to Eau Claire police Saturday afternoon.

Both told police that they had been "huffing," inhaling chemical vapors, shortly before the crash.

The girls were students at the Halmstad and Southview elementary schools in the Chippewa Falls School District and members of Troop 3055. Counselors were being made available to students and staff when classes resumed Monday.

In front of Halmstad Elementary, teddy bears, balloons, candles and a bouquet of flowers. Sunday afternoon. Inside, dozens of families with counselors, as they did at Southview.

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night in the rain Halmstad to remember the Girl Scouts and the mother who were struck while making their community a better place to live.

"It was heartbreaking," Tabatha Kolve, 18, has Girl Scout and a troop leader who helped her fourth-graders assemble 150 candles for the vigil. She drove in from Eleva-Strum, 30 minutes away. "There is not much to say because it was so upsetting."

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