Patrol: Pickup driver crosses into traffic on Minnesota highway, kills teen motorist in head-on crash
A pickup truck driver crossed into oncoming traffic on a northern Minnesota highway and killed a teenage motorist in a head-on collision, officials said.
The crash occurred shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday about 3 miles east of Park Rapids on Hwy. 34 near Eagle Bend Road, the State Patrol said.
Donald Michael Sherman, 50, of Akeley, Minn., was heading east on Hwy. 34, "crossed the double yellow line" and hit a car being driven by 17-year-old Alyssa Marie Wheeler, of nearby Longville, the patrol said.
Wheeler, who graduated this spring from Pine River-Backus High School, died before she could be taken to a hospital, according to the patrol. Sherman was taken to a nearby hospital with noncritical injuries.
Court records show that Sherman has been convicted three times for driving after his license was suspended. At the time of the crash, his his license was valid, the state Department of Public Safety said Friday.
