A volunteer firefighter with the Lake Mills Fire Department is dead after stopping to help a driver on the Beltline near Monona Drive on New Year's Eve.

The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said preliminary results of an autopsy confirm that 46-year-old Christopher P. Truman of Lake Mills died from injuries sustained in the crash.

Truman was a captain with the Lake Mills Fire Department. He had been a captain for more than 10 years.

According to the Monona Police Department, Truman pulled over and was helping a driver in a car that crashed on the eastbound side of the Beltline near Monona Drive. While Truman was assisting the driver, another vehicle hit him.

NBC15's Tim Elliott spoke with a tow truck driver on Tuesday who saw Truman stopping to help.

"I was driving the opposite way west in a truck and I saw him stop and get out of his vehicle," said John Van of Finish Line Towing. "That is ground zero. That is the worst thing that could happen."

Police arrested Samuel Patrick Cremers for injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle and homicide intoxicated use of a vehicle.

The Lake Mills Fire Department posted a letter from the family Truman helped on the Beltline to their Facebook page. It reads:

“I know that all of you are grieving. I don’t know if this will help but your captain saved my daughter’s life last night. My daughter had lost control of the car and skidded. She got out of her car and was afraid and overwhelmed. He saw her and pulled behind her with his lights on. He came out of his car and told her to get back into her car. He pulled the bumper that was hanging off and then went to her window and told her he would follow her off the Beltline to safety. It was at this point that the driver hit him. My heart is in so much pain for all of you. He is my hero. Please let his wife/family know he is forever our angel. I’m just so very sorry.”

The fire department also posted on their page that funeral arrangements will be posted when they are finalized.

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