Sturgeon Bay women avoid crash that kills two in Brown County By Joe Knaapen For The News-Chronicle Quick reaction Sunday saved a student driver and her mother from serious injury as they avoided a car crash that killed two people and critically injured a third. "She saved our lives," said Kathy Beno of Sturgeon Bay. Beno was describing how her daughter, Holly Christensen, 15, took to the ditch to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming car on Highway 57. The collision occurred about 2:20 p.m. in the area where the highway is under construction near County Highway K in the town of Scott. Response to the scene was almost immediate by the Brown County Sheriff's Department, which had been alerted to a southbound car driving erratically, and possibly with the driver under the influence of intoxicants in the area where the crash occurred. An autopsy conducted Monday determined, however, that intoxication by alcohol and the natural progress of a disease did not play a role in the crash, said Al Klimek, of the Brown County coroner's office. "We ruled out intoxication and natural disease, so we're down to the little things," Klimek said. "There are some issues we need to sort about what happened before the crash occurred." The tragedy unfolded in dramatic fashion for Beno and her daughter as they were driving home to Sturgeon Bay from a meeting in Iron Mountain, Mich., about a student foreign exchange program. Christensen, a sophomore at Sturgeon Bay High School, was preparing to participate in the program. As she drove home, a student driver carrying her temporary learner's permit, Christensen saw a car coming toward her in her lane. She yelled, "Mom," and steered the car into a ditch, avoiding the crash that was occurring as the car they had avoided slammed into the car traveling behind theirs. The vehicle directly in front of Christensen, driven by Door County social worker Shane Stees, also swerved to avoid the on-coming car. Later, Stees told investigators he saw the crash erupt in his review mirror, according to Capt. Randy Schultz of the Brown County Sheriff's Department. Although bruised and shaken up after going off the road, Beno and Christensen got out of their car and ran to render aid at the collision site where the southbound car driven by Sandra Bullock, 64, of Neenah, slammed into a northbound car driven by Phillip Taylor, 60, of Fish Creek. Bullock was pronounced dead of massive trauma at the scene. Taylor's wife, 58-year-old Joyce, died Monday of head injuries she sustained in the crash. Phillip Taylor was listed in critical condition Monday at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay. At the accident site, Beno, a retired emergency medical technician with the defunct Metro Rescue of Green Bay, ran to see of she could help the injured. No longer a practicing EMT, she said she intended to try to help until the professionals showed up. "There was blood everywhere," Beno said. "I saw a lot when I was on the ambulance, but this was the worse one I've ever seen." Approaching the Bullock car, Beno said she "couldn't get the passenger door open, but we saw that the woman was dead." Moving to the other car, Beno said she held Phillip Taylor's neck stable while waiting for First Responders and paramedics to arrive. Christensen then sat with Joyce Taylor, holding the woman's hand and talking to her until paramedics could transport her to BayCare. The contact "really impacted Holly," Beno said, especially after Joyce Taylor died the next day. A new driver since August, Christensen said in a telephone interview Monday that she was starting to tire after a long drive when she saw the car coming toward her. Realizing she was in a construction area, Christensen said she was worried that she had driven into the wrong lane. Rather than worry about it, she drove into the ditch. "In Driver's Ed the teach us what to do in case a tire blows or something," Christensen said. "This was nothing like that. There was no time to think, I just had to react."