A woman who crashed her car into a guardrail in the west metro and caused a five-vehicle crash after being pursued by law enforcement has died, authorities said.

Barbara Belka, 73, of Rockville, Minn., died Monday at Hennepin County Medical Center from injuries she suffered in the June 7 pileup along Hwy. 55 near Maple Lake, the State Patrol said Wednesday.

Belka was driving one of the vehicles in the crash that authorities say was caused after she was pursued by officers with the Wright County Sheriff's Office and the Annandale Police Department.

Before the multivehicle crash, she hit a guardrail in South Haven, prompting the pursuit. The officers backed off as Belka neared Maple Lake, the patrol said.

Patrol Sgt. Jesse Grabow said Thursday that investigators are trying to determine whether Belka was fleeing law enforcement or was unable to stop for some reason.

The other four drivers caught up in the late-afternoon wreck on the two-lane highway survived their injuries.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482