A semitrailer truck driver died Wednesday in a crash on a central Minnesota freeway after his rig crossed through the center median and struck oncoming vehicles.

Truck driver Brian Lemley, 59, of Sibley, N.D., was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on Interstate 94 near Albany, the State Patrol said.

Lemley, who was wearing a seat belt, was headed west when his truck veered off the road just after 8 a.m., went through the median and collided with two eastbound vehicles near milepost 144, the patrol said.

Neither of the drivers in the eastbound vehicles were seriously hurt, the patrol said.

The crash had eastbound I-94 closed for several hours Wednesday morning and traffic was diverted off the freeway at the Freeport exit.

A woman from Freeport was seriously injured in a different crash that occurred in the backup. The woman rear-ended an eastbound semitrailer truck that had slowed near milepost 140, the patrol said.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768