Three separate car crashes in outstate Minnesota killed three motorists in a 12-hour span that started Thursday afternoon.
The first occurred on Hwy. 29 north of the Swift/Chippewa County line around 3:40 p.m. Thursday. Christopher M. Kozar, 44, of Excelsior, was traveling south when his sedan veered off the road, hit an embankment and vaulted into the air. Kozar, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle.
He was transported to Benson Hospital in Swift County, where he died as a result of his injuries.
Minutes later, a broadside crash farther south on Hwy. 169 and Hwy. 68 in Blue Earth County killed a New Ulm teenager.
Zachary E. Hauser, 17, was preparing to enter Hwy. 169 near Mankato when his car struck a vehicle traveling south carrying two Madison Lake residents. They received noncritical injuries. Hauser was wearing his seat belt, but the air bags didn't deploy, according to the State Patrol incident report.
Hauser was a rising senior at New Ulm Public High School, where he was active in Knowledge Bowl and the Robotics Club and was a distance runner on the track team.
Early Friday morning, a Hutchinson man was killed in a rollover accident in Douglas County.
Rhett R. Peters, 28, was driving north on Hwy. 29 in a sport-utility vehicle when he failed to negotiate a curve just north of the Pope County line. The SUV went off the road into a ditch, eventually rolling over and ejecting Peters, who died at the scene.
