A 55-year-old Oakdale man died Thursday during the peak of the rush hour when his vehicle went off a freeway in Eagan, the State Patrol said.
The driver, whose name has not been released, was headed west on Interstate 494 near Pilot Knob Road when his 2006 Chevy Equinox veered off the road at 7:11 a.m. It was believed he had a medical emergency, said Lt. Tiffani Nielson.
Two passing motorists who saw the SUV go off the road used a rock to break a window and pulled the driver from the vehicle. A State Trooper who arrived shortly after administered CPR, but the man died at the scene, Nielson said.
A dispatcher gave kudos to the good Samaritans saying, "they did a really nice job," in tough conditions. It was raining heavily at the time, and the vehicle came to a stop 20 to 30 feet off the road in deep vegetation.
The incident tied up traffic in the area for more than an hour. Traffic was gridlocked 5 miles back to Hwy. 61 in Newport.
Tim Harlow
