Multiple people killed, hurt in Minnesota highway crashes Sunday and Monday
Multiple people were hurt or killed in highway crashes from Sunday night to Monday night in southern and central Minnesota, according to reports by the Minnesota State Patrol.
Although road conditions are expected to be poor due to snow Tuesday, road conditions were dry during all of the crashes below.
Lyon County
The first fatality involved a single vehicle crash around 6 p.m. Sunday on Highway 14 just east of Tracy.
According to the State Patrol, a crossover SUV was traveling west on the highway when it left the roadway and struck some trees.
Responders took all three of the vehicle’s occupants to Tracy Hospital, where 53-year-old Thai Vang of Tracy died. The other two occupants, a 46-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy, also of Tracy, were treated for injuries that weren’t life-threatening.
Vang, who was riding as a passenger, was the only person not wearing a seatbelt.
Yellow Medicine County
A second fatal crash happened early Monday morning.
Early information indicates a Dodge van was traveling north on Highway 59 and a Pontiac van was traveling east on 280th Avenue in Lisbon Township when they collided at the intersection shortly before 7:30 a.m.
At least one of the two vans rolled into the ditch. Authorities are still investigating details surrounding the crash.
All three people involved in the crash suffered some type of injury.
The driver of the Dodge, 69-year-old Jean Margaret Miller of Clarkfield, died at the scene.
Meanwhile, the driver of the Pontiac, identified as 36-year-old Sallianne Ruth Gottschall of Clarkfield, was taken to North Memorial Hospital for life-threatening injuries. The passenger in the Pontiac, a 6-year-old boy, suffered unspecified injuries that were not life-threatening.
Gottschall was not wearing her seatbelt, and it is unknown if the boy was wearing his seatbelt. Authorities say Clarkfield was belted at the time of the crash.
Kanabec County
A third crash which happened closer to the Metro, involved one vehicle and one person.
The State Patrol says 32-year-old Melissa Ann Darwin of Mora is in the hospital with critical injuries after crashing a Chrysler van around 7:15 p.m. Monday on Highway 65 in Knife Lake Township.
The report says Darwin was driving at a high speed when her van drifted to the right, resulting in her hitting a mailbox. She then over-corrected and went off the road into the ditch.
Darwin was wearing her seatbelt; however, the State Patrol says alcohol was a factor in the crash.
Previously reported crashes Sunday-Monday
As reported in earlier KSTP articles, several other highway crashes in the past few days have resulted in injury or death.
41-year-old James R. Neumann died in a crash just after 7 p.m. Sunday in Palmer Township.
29-year-old Nicole Marie Price of Minneapolis suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash around 2:30 a.m. Monday inside the Portland Avenue tunnel.