Friday morning, A pickup truck pulling a construction trailer was traveling three miles east of White Earth on County Highway 34 when it collided head on with the vehicle the mother was driving. The vehicles then skidding down a steep embankment and into Net Lake. The 28-year-old mother, her 8-month-old son and 3-year-old son died from "catastrophic injuries." None of the deaths were due to drowning.
These death, like any other on Minnesota roads are particularly unfortunate considering they come a month after the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MDPS) reported that overall the number of highway deaths has been down for 2009 with more than 300 people having died this year in Minnesota traffic collisions. There were 458 deaths in 2008, which was a drop from 510 in 2007.
The causes for this collision are still under investigation. But, we will see if speed or other factors came into play.
As with any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are many issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a recent article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed last year on the same topic. In this tragic case, sorrow for the whole families goes out.
A founding partner with Bradshaw & Bryant, Mike Bryant has always fought to find justice for his clients—knowing that legal troubles, both personal injury and criminal, can be devastating for a family. Voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, Mr. Bryant has also been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers" four times.
2 Comments
Steve Lombardi
Interesting to say the least, unfortunate, but interesting. The relatives of the woman should get out and have the scene investigated before all the skid, scuff and gouge marks disappear from the roadway. I'm sure like we do in Iowa, your firm gets out there to look at the scene and if required hires an accident reconstruction expert to recreate the scenario of how and why it happened. Apparently there was no indication in the news article as to which vehicle was over the center line?
Mike Bryant
All very good points, I believe the police are still investigating and may know more by now. You are absolutely correct that many things need to be looked at right away to preserve evidence and make fault determinations.
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