Crash in north metro kills motorcyclist, bringing Tuesday's traffic death toll to 5

A motorcyclist was killed after colliding with an SUV that was turning in front of him at a well-traveled north metro intersection, authorities said Wednesday.

The crash occurred about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday at Hwy. 65 and Osborne Road in Spring Lake Park, according to the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.

Paramedics arrived on the scene, about a mile south of Hwy. 10, and determined the 31-year-old motorcyclist from Blaine was dead, the Sheriff's Office added. Authorities have yet to release the identity of the man, who was wearing a helmet.

The SUV was turning left from eastbound Osborne onto northbound Hwy. 65, when "the operator laid the [westbound] motorcycle down" and was hit by the SUV, said Sheriff's Cmdr. Paul Sommer.

The driver of the SUV was not injured, Sommer said.

This traffic fatality was the fifth in the Twin Cities area Tuesday. The first deadly collision occurred on Snelling Avenue near the State Fairgrounds, with a head-on crash about 3 a.m. killing David P. Hall, 55, and Por Vang, 57, both of St. Paul.

Then came two single-person fatal crashes:

• A semitrailer truck hit a 55-year-old Minneapolis man on foot, causing a 90-minute shutdown of Interstate 94 near downtown Minneapolis. The victim was identified Wednesday as Robert J. Thornton. The State Patrol said Thornton had been drinking.

Through Tuesday, there have been 128 traffic fatalities in Minnesota this year, roughly the same total as last year.