The chill in the night air did nothing to soften the tragedy that unfolded in Howard on Wednesday. Around 9:55 p.m., a truck negotiating the bend where Shawano Avenue meets Evergreen Avenue veered off course, smashed into a utility pole, and slammed into a towering tree. The violent impact left both occupants trapped inside. One would die; the other would be left to grapple with life’s fragility.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed the identities: Cameron G. Reinsbach, 21, of Howard, was behind the wheel. He was pulled from the mangled truck and rushed to a local hospital, clinging to life with “life-threatening injuries.” His passenger, Chase M. Nundahl, also 21, of Suamico, did not survive. When paramedics transported him to the hospital, he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Preliminary investigation paints a grim picture: Reinsbach appears to have failed in negotiating the curve, and both speed and alcohol are believed to have contributed to the crash. The truck left the roadway, clipped a utility pole (shearing it in pieces), then barreled into a large tree with devastating force.
First responders—firefighters, EMS, and tow crews—worked feverishly to free the two young men from the wreckage. It was a complicated scene of twisted metal, shattered glass, and shattered lives. Authorities emphasize that no other vehicles were involved in the wreck; it was a single-vehicle crash.
The Brown County Sheriff’s Office’s Crash Reconstruction Unit is now poring over details, trying to piece together exactly how this happened. They urge anyone who witnessed the crash or saw the truck prior to impact to step forward. You can contact them at 920-448-4200.
In the quiet that follows, the sobering truth remains: a young life extinguished, another hanging in the balance, and a curve that spelled disaster. This crash is a stark reminder of how fast choices behind the wheel—speed, impairment, lack of control—can transform a routine drive into a heartbreak that echoes beyond one night.