A woman died Sunday evening when the vehicle she was riding in struck a deer on a busy east metro highway and crashed, the State Patrol said.
Jody Rae Bergsgaard, 56, was wearing a seat belt when the 2012 Toyota RAV 4 hit the deer in the left lane of westbound Hwy. 36 just past Edgerton Street in Maplewood. The vehicle then crossed both lanes of the highway and crashed in the north ditch about 5:20 p.m., the patrol said.
Bergsgaard, of Oakdale, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, identified by the patrol as Robert G. Bergsgaard, 61, of Oakdale, was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with noncritical injuries. He was wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.
Tim Harlow
