Trucker cited for hauling wagon train of 8 crumpled, wrecked vehicles on Milwaukee interstate

It looked like something Jed Clampett might drive.

A trucker was pulled over by sheriff's deputies Monday morning hauling eight crushed, crumpled and seen-better-days vehicles on Interstate 41.

Multiple Milwaukee County sheriff's squads were needed to escort the dangerously unsafe wagon train of wrecks stacked on top of each other to a safe spot at the department's nearby substation.

“This was one of the most egregious truck safety violations I’ve ever seen, and that’s after 31 years in law enforcement, much of it spent on patrolling the freeway," Acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt said. "It’s fortunate a citizen called 911 to alert us and we got him off the road.”

A motorist dialed 911 about 6:40 a.m. Monday when the hauler was seen on I-41 southbound near Bluemound Road. A sheriff's truck enforcement deputy stopped the vehicle, which had traveled from Eagle River — a distance of 250 miles — on the way to Miller Compressing, the largest scrap metal recycler in the Milwaukee area.

If the 39-year-old trucker had been operating legally, only four vehicles would have been stacked on the flatbed truck. But instead six vehicles were loaded on the trailer plus two more were pulled from behind, a pickup truck with a car wedged into the pickup's back.

The vehicle on top of the pickup truck was secured by only a tie strap attached to the door handle of the pickup. It's possible the car could have become dislodged had the truck hit a bump or pothole.

"Somebody could have died," department spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin said. "There are rules and codes in place for a reason. That's why we have truck inspectors on duty."

The truck driver owned his trucking company. He was cited for five equipment and safety violations and the truck was taken out of service until the violations are fixed.