A Scott County community remained in shock over the weekend after a car accident that killed a 14-year-old girl and seriously injured two of her schoolmates.
The Hennepin County medical examiner on Saturday ruled Anna Mary Bird's death an accident. She was a passenger in a car that veered off Murphy Lake Boulevard early Thursday evening and hit a tree.
Bird, a freshman at Prior Lake High School, died at the scene of multiple blunt-force injuries, the medical examiner reported.
The driver, 18-year-old junior Austin Knudson, and the front-seat passenger, 15-year-old freshman Sydney Stone, were critically injured and taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.
The accident happened at 7:10 p.m. Thursday, barely 2½ miles from the high school.
According to a report from the Scott County Sheriff's Office, the vehicle was traveling northbound on Murphy Lake Boulevard near the intersection of Sunset Lake Boulevard when it left the roadway and struck a tree.
The incident remains under investigation by the Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota State Patrol.
As news of the crash spread, social media filled with memorials for Bird, a smiling, popular student and a member of the hockey and lacrosse teams. Mourners gathered at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Savage for a memorial service.
