A Coon Rapids husband and wife were killed in central Minnesota when the motorcycle they were riding crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a pickup truck, authorities said.

The crash occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. Monday on Hwy. 6, north of Crosby in Crow Wing County, according to the State Patrol.

Killed were a 52-year-old man operating the 1978 motorcycle and his 53-year-old wife riding with him, the patrol said. Their identities have yet to be released. The man was not wearing a helmet; his wife was.

The pickup driver, a 60-year-old man from Crosby, was hospitalized with noncritical injuries.

The motorcycle was heading south on Hwy. 6, crossed into the northbound lane and hit the pickup head-on, the patrol said. The husband and wife were dead at the scene.

The crash was the second in the state in recent days that claimed the lives of a husband and wife on a motorcycle. On the Fourth of July, Terrance and Kari Armstrong, of Ramsey, were killed when their motorcycle went out of control and crashed about noon on northbound I-35 in Pine County, the patrol said.

Neither the motorcycle operator, Terrance Armstrong, 57, nor the passenger, Kari Armstrong, 47, were wearing helmets when they crashed about 2 miles south of Willow River, the patrol added. They were both taken to a hospital in Duluth and died later that day.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482