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<b>Exclusive:</b> Daycare Van Crashes Through Fence

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Exclusive: Daycare Van Crashes Through Fence

By Katie DeLong

MILWAUKEE – A TODAY’S TMJ4 Exclusive: the driver of a daycare van, filled with young kids, lost control and crashed head-on through a fence Thursday. TODAY’S TMJ4 has learned this incident is one of many problems for that daycare. The driver of the van took out two mailboxes and three fences before cutting across busy 43rd Street and crashing right through the fence. “I woke to a loud screech and what sounded like someone hitting our mailbox,” Richard Holton said. That loud bang was from the daycare van. Police say a handful of young kids were on board when the driver lost control, smashing through mailboxes and fences. Then, witnesses saw her cut across four lanes of traffic and hit the fence. Holton says it's a miracle everyone walked away. “They managed to jump over the top of the fence and nobody got injured,” Holton said. A spokesman for Whitley's Family Child Development Center downplayed the crash. “It's just she hit the fence and that was basically it. That's what the police officer told me, so we're good," the daycare spokesman said. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Melissa McCrady: “How do you explain though, it wasn't just one fence, it was three fences and two mailboxes.” “You'll have to pull the police report,” the spokesman said. TODAY’S TMJ4 checked the daycare’s record, and within the last year, the state cited Whitley's for at least 26 violations. Many of those violations involve the way Whitley's transports kids. The daycare spokesperson had this to say: "My only concern right now is the safety of the children." It appears the driver was ticketed for causing the crash. The state is still investigating the daycare.