3 dead in weekend crashes on metro roads

The deaths were in separate crashes. The patrol said it wasn't known yet if alcohol was a factor in any of them.

By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune

Last update: May 17, 2008 - 10:27 PM

Three people were killed in metro-area car accidents in a span of about 14 hours early this weekend.

"Our first really, really warm weekend and that's what happens on our roads," Lt. Mark Peterson of the State Patrol said Saturday. "Historically, the first good warm weekend many times proves to be very active for the State Patrol through fatal crashes and alcohol."

However, he said it was not yet known if alcohol was a factor in the crashes that killed a Plymouth woman, a Rockford man and a Brooklyn Center man whose vehicle crashed through a noise barrier in downtown Minneapolis.

Joseph Engles, 18, died in the weekend's first accident, which happened about 10 p.m. Friday along Interstate 94. He was speeding in the eastbound lanes when his car rear-ended another car, went up an embankment and crashed through the noise wall between the Riverside and Cedar Avenue highway ramps, according to the State Patrol.

The crash also left Engles' two passengers, ages 16 and 19, in critical condition. Conditions were unknown for occupants of the other car, driver Christopher S. Coppin, 33, of Maple Plain and passenger Johnathon L. Reuben, 27, of Norwood Young America.

Just before 2 a.m. Saturday, Danielle J. Pound, 20, of Plymouth died in a single-vehicle crash on I-694 at Shingle Creek Parkway in Brooklyn Center. Pound lost control while driving west and her car skidded and hit a median divider head-on, the patrol said.

A 61-year-old Rockford man became the third fatality just before noon Saturday when his motorcycle hit an oncoming car turning in front of him in Rockford. Another Rockford man, Dennis Scholtes, 74, was turning from Hwy. 55 onto Main Street when the motorcyclist hit his car, said the State Patrol. Scholtes suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Peterson advised motorists to buckle up, obey speed limits, avoid alcohol and pay attention to their driving.

"And start seeing motorcycles," he added.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658

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