Crash claims lives of pregnant Wis. woman, fetus, daughter

A traffic collision that killed a pregnant driver and her unborn baby over the weekend has also claimed the life of the driver's daughter, who succumbed to her injuries the next morning.

[boscokitty]

7 month FETUS??? Shame on you....in the headline, even....shame on you. I am sure the family that lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, and an unborn baby did not need to see this too. Shame on you.

[frde]

First, my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Jennifer and the unnamed child. This is a tragedy that didn't need to happen because of another drunk driver.
PLEASE - Start imposing stiffer sentences on these fools that think it is O.K. to drink and drive.

[Be more careful]

I noticed a lot of SUV drivers drive carelessly because they have SUV. Not all SUV drivers, but many of them. If you are not one of them, you are not one of them and this is not for you.
Drivers, please be careful because when some die like this and because of our fault, how are we going to live for the rest of our life?

[St Paul]

Another damn drunk driver. When are they going to start treating this kind of thing as 2nd degree murder instead of an accident? This is no accident, before you even take that first drink, you know that something like this can happen.

[JANK]

So why is this eastern WI traffice incident in the local Twin Cities news? I don't see the connection.

[Jimmy Janos]

JANK wrote:

So why is this eastern WI traffice incident in the local Twin Cities news? I don't see the connection.

The PP has a minumum for fetus quotes, and this is today's quota.

[Heather]

That is so sad! My thoughts and prayers go out to the family during this horrible time.

[Oconomowoc Mom]

WAUKESHA COUNTY - At first Steve Bukosky and his family were ready to forgive. Now, hearing about the man who allegedly caused his family so much heartache makes them angry. "It makes me wonder how many chances you give somebody," he said. His daughter-in-law, Jennifer Bukosky was killed, along with her unborn daughter and 10-year-old daughter Friday afternoon in a car crash in Oconomowoc. We've learned the 55-year-old driver arrested for the crash had his license revoked two days before the accident. Mark Benson was convicted of his third drunken driving charge. But yet he was back on the road Friday afternoon. "It's very hard of course on my son. They were recently married," said Bukosky. His son, Michael married Jennifer Bukosky who's an associate principal at Oconomowoc High School last year. She was 7 months pregnant with a baby girl they were going to name Sophia. But that changed Friday afternoon when police say Benson's SUV smashed into Bukosky's car on Highway 67 in Oconomowoc. Her 10-year-old daughter Courtney also died. Her 12-year-old son Zach survived. "He's young, but devastated by it, by the loss of his mother, his sister, and his sister that was to be," he said. The family was supposed to be celebrating Jennifer's 40th birthday this weekend. "He (Michael) had taken the kids out to buy balloons for the house so they still put them up in her memory," Steve Bukosky said. The man allegedly responsible for the accident, Mark Benson, is at the Waukesha County Jail. Meantime, the Bukosky family is currently planning three funerals and a loss that is almost unbearable. "It's a loss for not just our family but the entire community of Oconomowoc," Steve Bukosky said. Benson was ordered to serve 75 days in jail with Huber release starting in May for that DUI. There was another child in the car during this accident. She is in critical condition at Children's Hospital. Funeral arrangements have been made for the Jennifer Bukosky and her unborn child. The first visitation will be Wednesday for students from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Pagenkopf Funeral Home, 1165 Summit Ave. in Oconomowoc. On Thursday, a regular visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian burial for Bukosky and her unborn child will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Jerome Catholic Church, 211 S. Main St., Oconomowoc. Our prayers are with Jennifer's family.

[Simple Solutions]

boscokitty wrote:

7 month FETUS??? Shame on you....in the headline, even....shame on you. I am sure the family that lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, and an unborn baby did not need to see this too. Shame on you.

I saw the headline and I just knew someone would choose to focus on this. Thanks for not letting me down.

[Drive SAFE]

Be more careful wrote:

I noticed a lot of SUV drivers drive carelessly because they have SUV. Not all SUV drivers, but many of them. If you are not one of them, you are not one of them and this is not for you.
Drivers, please be careful because when some die like this and because of our fault, how are we going to live for the rest of our life?

Be more careful? The driver choose to drink and drive. CAREFUL?
The vehicle has nothing to do with it. He could have done the same damage with a prius.
I am sure if the government banned all SUV's this terrible tragedy could have been avoided.
If the previous posters information is correct, the legislators are at fault here once again, by not making tougher sentencing guidelines for these repeat offenders. If this guy was in the poky were he belongs this tragedy would not have occurred.

[Oconomowoc Mom]

Our thoughts are focused on remembering Jennifer Bukosky, OHS associate principal, and her daughter Courtney, fourth grade student at Summit Elementary School. This senseless tragedy has affected our entire community. Please keep them and their family in your thoughts and prayers.

[No sympathy for Benson]

When in God's name will we even START to take this epidemic seriously? Drunk driving conviction? License revoked? TAKE THE DAMN KEYS AND IMPOUND THE VEHICLE,'TIL SUSPENSION IS REINSTATED!
How many times will we sit impassively by, as one after another repeat offenders continue to wreak havoc on our highways by driving - DRUNK - while under suspension, and devastating the lives of yet other innocents, as in this unspeakable tragedy??
When you turn the key in the ignition as you depart for the bar, you are making a conscious decision to embark on a potentially lethal course. To subsequently plead innocent of all charges, due to alcohol-induced impairment ("I didn't know what I was doing, I was drunk!") is the epitome of hypocrisy: Ya' knew DAMN WELL what you were doing when you intentionally drove off for that drink, didn't ya'?
Put this poor bastard out of our collective misery... and shut him off from the rest of society: As a repeat offender, he has already demonstrated himself incapable of neither modifying his behavior NOR respecting the law.
Perhaps his insurance company's "maximum outlay" - including what WOULD have covered the repairs to his own vehicle - going to the victim's family would force carriers to charge these miscreants accordingly, but - silly me - what am I thinking??? HE WAS UNDOUBTEDLY DRIVING UNINSURED, RIGHT?!
I understand and respect everyone's right to self-determination, and making choices - like electing intoxication: I simply refuse to condone that choice being foisted off on the rest of society at large, placing the rest of us in mortal peril. Do it if you must - but on your own time, in your own space... far, far way from the rest of us.

[Oconomowoc Mom]

There was another child in the car during this accident. She is in critical condition at Children's Hospital. Please pray for her recovery.

[Boston]

I find it incredible that "Be more careful" reacts to this story by criticizing the kind of vehicle the drunk was driving. Drunk drivers kill, SUVs and other vehicles are not running rampant on the highways of this country indescriminately killing people. IT IS THE DRUNK BEHIND THE WHEEL!!!!!!

My written reaction is tempered only by the fact that I realize I am responding the the reaction of a kind hearted person, albiet an idiot.

[JTY]

boscokitty wrote:

7 month FETUS??? Shame on you....in the headline, even....shame on you. I am sure the family that lost a mother, a daughter, a sister, and an unborn baby did not need to see this too. Shame on you.

Fetus is the actual technical term for an unborn baby over 8 weeks of age. I see this as no different as calling a baby and infant or a young child a toddler.

If you want to feel out rage, feel out rage towards the drunk driver who murdered them.

[ann]

i just hope and pray to god that this man never sees the light od day again. he had no respect for the lives of others even thou he is a doctor or was a doctor. plus no respect for the law. no one or nothing is to blame but himself. he knew what he was doing . i pray that the little girl gets threw this who is still in the hospital and the son of jennifer. wisconsin laws need to change

[jmm]

The laws need to become togher. And I agree as an SUV driver, it is not the car that killed these incoccent people it was the drunk driver behind the wheel of the SUV. He should be put away for good. And really why the **** was he allowed to drive? That is where the Law is screwed up. As an Oconomowoc resident this could have happened to anyone, anywhere, unfortunatley Jennifer & her family was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was probably on his way home, as he does or should I say lived far fromt the accident scene. His jail cell will be his new home now HOPEFULLY!

We need to pray for the family through this tough time.

[Icepick]

The SOB should get a minimum of 7 years for EACH person he killed!

[just me]

JTY wrote:

<quoted text>
Fetus is the actual technical term for an unborn baby over 8 weeks of age. I see this as no different as calling a baby and infant or a young child a toddler.
If you want to feel out rage, feel out rage towards the drunk driver who murdered them.

Thanks -- I couldn't see what that person was posting 'FETUS' about. Is that a bad word? I thought it meant unborn child, which what this was, right?? Sometimes I just don't know all the 'politically correct terms'

[Captain Midnight]

Too angry to comment.