Driver negligence and mechanical malfunction are among factors that contributed to a two-vehicle crash Sunday night north of Duluth that left one person dead, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office said.
Two vehicles collided in the 9300 block of Vermillion Trail in Makinen Township about 9:15 p.m. One of the vehicles carrying two people overturned and was submerged in about 2 feet of water in a ditch.
Deputies, with the help of a civilian, were able to pull a passenger from the vehicle, but the driver, identified as Rai Walden, 29, of Makinen, was pronounced dead at the scene, said deputy Matt Sobczak.
The passenger was airlifted to a Duluth hospital with noncritical injuries, he said.
Three people in the second vehicle were not seriously hurt, Sobczak said.
The crash is still under investigation, but "driver negligence, mechanical malfunction and weather are believed to be factors," the Sheriff's Office said.
TIM HARLOW
