Rice County Sheriff Encourages People to Slow Down on Area Roads

Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn joined KDHL live during the 8:05 report this morning to inform listeners about a blockage of both lanes of northbound  I-35 at Highway 19.  The Sheriff said there were a couple of other accidents after the main accident caused by people going too fast to stop when they came upon the long line of stopped vehicles.

The initial accident occurred at 7:21 this morning according to the Minnesota State Patrol when a pickup operated by Jan Carlos Deleon-Zarzuela, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina heading southbound on I-35 crossed over a snowy/icy bridge deck and lost control, going through the median before colliding with a northbound semi head on.

The semi was driven by Dakota Alan Harkrider, 27, of Plattsburg, Missouri.

The two drivers and a passenger in the Deleon-Zarzuela vehicle, Pedro Moreno, 23, of St. Paul were all transported to Northfield Hospital with non-life threatening injuries according to the State Patrol report.

There were two other injury accidents in the region on Thursday according to the State Patrol.  At 8:26 Thursday evening two vehicles collided along Highway 60 in Jamestown Township, Blue Earth County.

Michael James Meaden, 69, of Apple Valley, Minnesota was going east on HIghway 60 when a 16 year old girl pulled onto the roadway to go west on Highway 60.  The State Patrol did not release the name of the driver or where she was from.

A passenger in the vehicle, Lydia Rae Hoffman of Owatonna, Minnesota suffered a non-life threatening injury and was transported to Mankato Hospital.  She and the driver were both wearing seat belts according to the report.

Marsden suffered no apparent injury and was also wearing his seat belt.

The snow and ice was a contributor to an accident at 11:53 Thanksgiving morning at the intersection of Waseca County Road 11 and Highway 30.

The State Patrol reports Cayla Raeann Mingo, 19, of Waseca was southbound on Waseca County Road 11 when she was not able to stop on the ice snow packed road and entered the intersection colliding with a vehicle operated by Patrick Ira Milks, 61, of Wells, Minnesota.

MIngo suffered no apparent injury and was wearing a seat belt.  Milks was taken to Mankato Hospital with a non-life threatening injury and was also wearing a seat belt.

There were three other passengers in the Milk vehicle and all were taken to the Mankato Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  All were wearing their seat belts.

Lena Jane Cooper, 81, of Wells, Lawrence Haskell Cooper, 85, of Wells and Victoria Hinastoza, 12, unknown city.