Nicholas Pieri, 32, formerly of Palatine, died Saturday, June 2, 2012, in a head-on crash in the Town of Schleswig, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Pieri recently became a resident of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Pieri was one of two people who were killed in a head-on crash on Wisconsin 57 at Little Elkhart Lake Road. Pieri was the passenger in a car driven by Dustin R. Fox. The crash also killed the driver of the other car, Andrew S. Hoefler, 22, of Kiel, Wisconsin. Andrew Hoefler was a police officer with the New Holstein Police Department. He was off-duty at the time of the crash.
Dustin R. Fox, 22, was seriously injured, and Jack R. Schmitt, 67, another passenger in Dustin Fox’s car was also seriously injured. The men were transported to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah. Dustin Fox was apparently driving the wrong way in the southbound lanes of Little Elkhart Lake Road about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. The 2000 Toyota he was driving hit a 2008 Ford Escape that was driven by Hoefler. Both Pieri and Hoefler died at the scene.
According to police reports, only Dustin Fox was wearing a seat belt.
At age 29, Nicholas Pieri was hit by Palatine police car about 12:27 a.m. Saturday, July 18, 2009. He apparently stepped off the curb into the path of a Palatine police car in the 400 block of North Smith Street. He was critically injured and transported to Level I Trauma Center Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Pieri was seeking damages in excess of $50,000 in a lawsuit against the Village of Palatine and the Buffalo Grove Police Department, which investigated the Palatine incident. Northwest Central Dispatch System, the 9-1-1 dispatch center handling the emergency was also named as a defendant.
The Buffalo Grove police investigation of the Palatine incident noted that Pieri was intoxicated at the time of the incident, and that he was not in the crosswalk when he stepped into the street. The status of the lawsuit is not known.
In Andrew Hoefler’s memory, a scholarship fund and a memorial fund have been established in his name.
Donations can be mailed to:
Andrew Hoefler Memorial Fund
Meiselwitz-Vollstedt Funeral Home
815 6th St.
Kiel, WI 53042
Andrew Hoefler Scholarship Fund
Lakeshore Technical College
1290 North Ave
Cleveland, WI 53015-1414