Father, toddler killed in head-on crash

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: November 9, 2009 - 11:45 AM

A Twin Cities man and a toddler were killed on Interstate 35 Sunday morning when their car was struck head-on by another vehicle.

The two were traveling southbound on I-35 when a car traveling northbound entered their lane and collided with their car at 10:57 a.m. at Hwy. 8 in Washington County, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. One car ended up in the ditch, and the other came to a rest on the roadway.

The man was wearing a seat belt and the toddler, a boy, was secured in a child seat, said patrol spokesman Capt. Matt Langer. They died at the scene. They were the only occupants of the car; their identities have not been released.

It's unclear what caused the northbound car to enter the southbound lanes, Langer said. Roads were dry at the time. The speed limit is 70 miles per hour.

The driver, Eric P. Sprouse, 19, and his passenger, Dustin W. Covey, 20, of the northbound car were not wearing seat belts. Sprouse, who was ejected from the car, was flown to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale in critical condition, Langer said. Covey suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The men are from Wyoming, Minn.

"It was a unique circumstance," Langer said of the seat belt fatalities. "I can tell you that had the two people who were injured been wearing seat belts, they would not have been injured as severely."

The crash closed southbound I-35 between the Wyoming and Forest Lake exits for about four hours.

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