Deadly holiday weekend on Manitowoc County roads

UPDATED AT 3:30 p.m. on November 30, 2020: The driver of the Audi was a male, not a female as the original information from the sheriff's department indicated.

Posted at 1 p.m. on Monday, November 30, 2020

The Brillion News

MANITOWOC - It was sadness, not thanks, that marked the Thanksgiving weekend in Manitowoc County.

"On behalf of the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office, I would like to offer our deepest condolences to all families involved," Sheriff Dan Hartwig wrote on Monday, after two traffic crashes claimed three lives.

The first happened at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25 at the intersection of County highways X and A in the Town of Schleswig.

It was a collision between a 2004 Audi that failed to stop for a stop sign and a tractor-semitrailer unit.

The truck driver was not injured; the 16-year old male driver of the car was seriously injured. His two passengers - a 16-year old boy and 21-year old Patrick Errol Knapp of De Pere, were killed and pronounced dead at the scene.

The second crash happened at 12:25 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, a single-vehicle crash at County X and Centerville Road in the Town of Centerville.

The 2016 Toyota Corolla operated by 22-year old Jordan James Leslie, of Sheboygan, left the road and struck several trees. Leslie was pronounced dead at the scene.

The sheriff said speed was a factor in the second crash.

Attending agencies were the sheriff's department, Kiel Police, Kiel Fire/EMS, Wisconsin State Patrol, Wisconsin DNR, Cleveland Fire Department, Cleveland EMS First Responders, Manitowoc Rescue, Manitowoc Coroner's Office, Manitowoc County Highway Department, the Manitowoc County Joint Dispatch Center and Hi-Way 42 Garage.