Albert Lea woman dies in Freeborn County rollover crash
[MGN]
A woman died after her SUV was submerged in a drainage ditch Friday morning in southern Minnesota.
The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office said that around 11:13 a.m. Friday, emergency personnel responded to a report of a vehicle that had rolled over into a drainage ditch on County Road 30 about a quarter-mile south of 200th Street, west of Albert Lea.
Initial investigation indicates that a Ford Explorer was northbound on County Road 30 when it lost control due to icy conditions and swerved off the road, rolling onto its roof.
When first responders got to the scene, they found that the passenger compartment of the Explorer was underwater and no occupant could be seen. After county highway department workers flipped the Explorer back on its wheels, they saw the driver, Joyce Chapek of Albert Lea, was still in the driver’s seat.
Chapek was removed from the SUV and taken to an ambulance, where she was pronounced dead at the scene.