MILWAUKEE – A Bay View woman is fighting for her life after she was caught in the middle of a drag race while crossing the street Saturday night.

Cara Corder, 33, was stranded on S. Kinnickinnic Boulevard near East Ruske Boulevard as two drivers sped away.

Corder’s friend and boss, Chris Schulist, told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin that he was there when it happened and was looking outside the window of his bar, the Wiggle Room.

He said it was difficult to process what his eyes were seeing at the time.

“I saw people going crazy and I walked out,” he recalled. “I remember looking at everyone and saying – who is that?”

So he started looking at the familiar people around him, the staff and the bar patrons. That’s when he realized there was one face missing from the group.

“It’s not like Cara isn’t here. Is this Cara? he asked. “The people who hit him didn’t stop, didn’t even blink, didn’t even blink. They continued.”

Schulist was horrified.

“We ran into the street,” he said, holding back tears. “We had to do it; people were stopping traffic to make sure he didn’t get hit again.”

The dire situation causes Schulist and her neighbors to raise the alarm about reckless driving.

Brian Redd lives a few doors down from the Wiggle Room.

“At a certain time of night it’s a kind of anarchy, anything goes,” Redd said. “There are no police and I don’t know why.”

Redd said he didn’t park his own car on the street because he had seen enough to know it would be a risk.

“I saw cars completely destroyed and then the drivers backed up and walked away,” he explained. “Most of the time they don’t follow up on it, they just get away with it.”

He said such stories about Kinnickinnic are common and have continued for years without resolution. That’s why he wants to see a more active police presence in the area.

“I would love to see someone parking on this corner at night,” he said. “They see a cop sitting here and they say, ‘Hey, we better not go fast on that road.’ That would be great.

Schulist wants to go a step beyond increasing police presence, starting with speed bumps.

“If there was any place where a speed bump or something like that would make sense, it would be this one,” he insisted. “You need something here; If they’re going 70 miles per hour, that’s going to break down their car. It’s the only way to stop them.”

Hoping to save others from this fate, Corder is still fighting to overcome it. In the meantime, Schulist said he’s hanging on to any good news he can find about Corder’s condition.

“He is being sensitive. “He’s moving his arm,” Corder shared. “I’m glad he didn’t die, because I literally could have been standing over his body in the street that day.”

Milwaukee Police say they are investigating a hit-and-run. They confirmed that two cars were racing and one of them hit a pedestrian crossing the road.

It was stated that both unidentified vehicles fled the scene. MPD is investigating the incident.

A. gofundme was founded by Corder’s friends Helping the 33-year-old with hospital bills, rehab expenses and living expenses on her difficult road to recovery.

Describing Corder as a Milwaukee treasure, GoFundMe has raised over $40,000 so far.

For Schulist and other community members, Corder is very deserving of support because, in addition to her work at Vanguard and hosting art exhibitions, she always shows up to support her loved ones.

“He is one of the hardest working people I know,” Schulist said.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, district councilwoman Marina Dimitrijevic said her office was in communication with Milwaukee police.

Dimitrijevic said MPD’s 6th District will increase patrols in the area and that his office has asked the Department of Public Works to conduct a new analysis of the area along Kinnikinnic Boulevard.

“We send our deepest thoughts to Cara, her family, and her friends at Vanguard,” Dimitrijevic wrote. “We can and must do better in our city.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Milwaukee Police at (414) 935-7219 or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414)224-Tips/ or P3 Tips.

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