The number of motorists killed on Minnesota roads this year rose to 153 when three people died in separate crashes Monday afternoon.
The first happened just before 1:30 p.m. on Hwy. 2 in Itasca County. Russell Locken, 57, was driving a Volkswagen Jetta eastbound on Hwy. 2 when he drifted over the centerline at milepost 194 and sideswiped a westbound Chevrolet Silverado, the State Patrol said.
Locken was killed in the incident, the patrol said. Two passengers in his car were taken to a hospital in Grand Rapids with noncritical injuries.
The Silverado driver was not injured.
About 20 minutes later at 1:50 p.m., another motorist died in a two-vehicle wreck at the intersection of 170th Street and N. Manning Trail in Scandia, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said.
The driver of one of the vehicles died at the scene. The other driver was evaluated on the scene by paramedics but not taken to a hospital, said Cmdr. Brian Mueller. Few other details were released and the crash is still under investigation, Mueller said.
In a third fatal wreck, a motorist died in a crash involving four vehicles around 3:30 p.m. at a busy intersection in Shakopee. According to the patrol, the driver of a Mercury Grand Marquis was making a left turn from northbound Hwy. 169 to northbound Hwy. 41 and failed to yield to traffic heading south on Hwy. 169. The Marquis cut off a southbound Ford F-150 which led to a broadside crash, the patrol said.
The impact pushed both vehicles into two others, including a motorcycle, the patrol said.
