OVTC bus involved in Minocqua accident

There were no serious injuries as the result of a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of U.S. Highway 51 and County Highway J on Friday, Feb. 7.

Even so, the driver of a Northwoods Transit Connections bus, owned by the Oneida Vilas Transit Commission (OVTC), was taken to a hospital for what was termed a “medical incident.”

According to the accident report filed by the Minocqua police department, the OVTC bus, operated by Edwin Knauer, 65, Minocqua, turned south onto Hwy. 51 from Hwy. J when he suffered a medical incident.

Knauer later told police he was losing the ability to feel his hands and feet and “blacked out” from a coughing fit.

In the process, the bus drifted toward the northbound lanes of Hwy. 51, struck the stoplight in the median and continued into the northbound lanes.

The driver of a 2023 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, William Buhrman, 65, Mundelein, Ill., was headed northbound. 

He swerved to miss the bus and struck the snowmobile trailer his Silverado was pulling, causing the truck and trailer to separate.

The bus pushed the trailer into a snowbank.

The driver of a northbound 2015 Subaru Legacy, Jennifer Engstad-Heitz, 64, Star Lake, swerved to miss the bus and truck collision and ended up in a snowbank as well. Two snowmobiles in Buhrman’s trailer were damaged. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].