A 76-year-old Remer, Minn., man was killed Wednesday afternoon when the truck he was driving was struck after he stopped to change a flat tire, the State Patrol said.
The man was one of three people to die in crashes on Minnesota highways on the day. His name was to be released Thursday morning.
The latest fatal crash happened about 3:35 p.m. on Hwy. 6 in Cass County. According to the State Patrol, the southbound pickup was stopped near milepost 61 for the tire change. The truck was rear-ended by a van also headed south on the highway, the patrol said, adding that the road was wet at the time.
The van's 79-year-old driver, Dale F. Roth, was taken to a hospital in Deer River, but the State Patrol said he was not injured. An 85-year-old Remer woman in the van, Zaila Winger, had an injury that wasn't considered life-threatening. She, too, was taken to the Deer River hospital.
Another of Wednesday's fatal crashes also happened on Hwy. 6 in Cass County. About 7 a.m., near milepost 66 and the intersection with County Road 452, a car headed north spun in the icy conditions, crossed the centerline and crashed with a sport-utility vehicle, sending both vehicles into a ditch, the State Patrol said.
Killed was Timothy Budrow, 60, of Bovey, Minn. He was a passenger in the car, and the driver, Laura Figgins, 56, of Cohasset, had a serious injury, according to the patrol. She was taken to a hospital in Duluth. The driver of the SUV, 68-year-old James E. Johnson of Remer, was not hurt.
A fatal crash also happened about 2:50 a.m. Wednesday on Hwy. 59 in Pennington County in western Minnesota. A car was going south when it crossed the centerline of the icy highway and crashed head-on with a northbound semitrailer truck, according to the State Patrol.
Killed was the car's driver, a 34-year-old St. Joseph man. His name was to be released Thursday morning. The semi's driver, John Zima, 53, of Waubun, Minn., was not injured, the patrol said.
