Steven Howard Peterson was out on his 2001 Harley-Davidson last Saturday evening when everything changed in a flash. The 68-year-old from rural La Farge headed east on County Road P just past Carlson Ridge Road in the Town of Christiana near Westby. Around 6:30 p.m. on October 10 a deer stepped into his path. He hit it hard.
The crash left him with bad injuries. Crews got him on a helicopter and flew him to the hospital in La Crosse. He held on through the night and into the next day. Early Monday afternoon on October 12 he died there.
Peterson lived out in the country. Friends and family knew him as a regular guy who liked his rides. At 68 he still got on that Harley and took to the back roads. This one started like any other evening ride. It did not end that way.
First responders from the sheriffās office, local fire department and ambulance crews showed up fast. They did what they could at the scene. Then the airlift team took over. Sheriff Roy Torgerson later said his heart goes out to everyone hurting from this.
Peterson was not wearing a helmet that night. The crash is still under investigation by the sheriffās office and the coronerās office. No other details have come out yet about the deer or the road conditions.
His people back in La Farge and around Vernon County now face the quiet that follows a sudden loss. They have the memories of the man who rode those roads for years. Those memories are what remain.
The Town of Christiana stretch of County Road P looks the same as it did before. But for the folks who knew Steven Peterson it will never feel quite the same.
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