Local News
Gruenke Talks About Dump Truck Driver’s Arrest
They knew where to find him, but they didn’t have enough evidence to make an
arrest until this week. On Tuesday, Wisconsin state patrol officers arrested truck driver Francis Rychtik (RICH-tik) of Wood County for the July traffic death of a La Crescent man, Jason Songer. Rychtik was identified at the time as the driver whose dump truck rear-ended Songer’s car as traffic narrowed in a construction area of I-90 on French Island. Songer’s vehicle was trapped beneath the truck and caught on fire. Tim Gruenke, the La Crosse County D-A, says investigators took their time studying the accident:
Speed and alcohol were thought to be factors in the crash. According to sources on-line, Rychtik reportedly was hurt in a collision six years ago near Wausau that killed his wife. His car slid on a wet road and was hit by a second car.
