3 Deaths on Roads in First 2 Days of December in Minnesota

Undated (KROC-AM News)- The final month of 2023 is off to a deadly start on Minnesota’s roads. 

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The State Patrol has responded to at least three fatal traffic incidents so far this month. Two of the incidents were crashes that happened Friday and the third fatality involved a pedestrian Saturday night. 

The first of the three deadly incidents happened in northwestern Minnesota shortly after 4 p.m. Friday. The state crash report says a sedan traveling south on Hwy. 59 north of Detroit Lakes entered the northbound lane of the two-lane highway where it was hit by a northbound semi truck. 

The sedan driver, identified as 36-year-old Timothy Lee Mitchell of Detroit Lakes was pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver was not hurt. 

The second fatal crash on Friday claimed the life of a North Dakota man who was traveling in the Moorhead area. 60-year-old Steven Jay Tetzlaff of Wahpeton was driving an SUV north on Hwy. 75 that collided with a northbound car at the roundabout intersection of Hwy. 75 and 60th Ave. South. 

Tetzlaff was taken to a hospital in Fargo where he died from his injuries. The state crash report indicates Tetzlaff was not buckled up. The car driver was not hurt. 

The most recent fatality occurred on a Twin Cities freeway Saturday night. The State Patrol says a pedestrian, described as a 39-year-old man from Brooklyn Park, was walking in the right-center lane of eastbound I-94/I-694 when he was struck by an eastbound Jeep in Maple Grove. 

Officials plan to release more information about Saturday night’s deadly incident, including the pedestrian's name, at a later time. The Jeep driver was not hurt.