Madison man in coma after car hits him while crossing the street

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – While a Madison man lies in a coma after being hit with a car, his loved ones want to prevent similar crashes from happening to others.

According to the Madison Police Department, 39-year-old Steven Branch was hit by a sedan while walking on the crosswalk at Commercial and North Sherman Ave. on the north side of town at 10:50 p.m. on July, 10.

Steven’s brother Preston Branch shared the family’s story in the hopes that it will get other drivers to pay better attention on the roads.

”People are affected by this. Family members are permanently affected by this,” Preston said. “This is impacting families, changing family dynamics forever and just knowing that you’re altering other people and your own community’ functions because of that I think that’ll help people understand the importance of driving safely.”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, there have been 40 crashes involving pedestrians in Dane County in 2023 and so far three were fatalities.

In 2022, there were 109 crashes and three fatalities.

Preston said the family is thankful the driver who hit Steven stopped and performed CPR. MPD Public Information Officer Stephanie Fryer said often times, drivers don’t stop after they’ve hit someone.

”A lot of times we do have to go searching for a driver and that just adds additional charges to whatever, if any, that person may face,” Fryer said. “So, we always encourage, things happened, if you do find yourself in a situation like this please remain on scene.”

Currently, Steven’s brother and his two children wait to see if he’ll come out of the coma.

”Knowing that he’s still alive currently and so the future is still untold,” Preston said. “He can fully recover and there still is that possibility.”

Preston started a GoFundMe to help cover current and future medical costs for the family.

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