A southbound pickup truck driven by a 28-year-old man from Kandiyohi, Minnesota, inexplicably pulled into the northbound lane while trailing a snow plow, crashing head-on into a car carrying four family members.
The State Patrol said three of the family members died. Surviving the crash were the pickup truck’s driver, Daniel T. Kadlec, and the driver of the car, Mark Kingstrom, 54, of Sacred Heart, Minnesota.
According to the accident report, visibility was poor from blowing snow when the crash happened about 11:30 a.m. Saturday north of Olivia on State Highway 71. The three victims were Fred Kingstrom, 89, of Sacred Heart; Ebba Kingstrom, 83, of Sacred Heart; and daughter Andrea Kingstrom, 44, of Bird Island, Minnesota.
The report said the driver of the pickup truck suffered minor injuries while the driver of the car was treated and released from an area hospital.
The Star Tribune reported that the Kingstroms were on a 40-mile trip north from Sacred Heart to visit other family members at a birthday party in Willmar.
The newspaper quoted State Patrol Lt. Brian West as saying investigators are “not sure why the (pickup truck) would’ve gone into the wrong lane of traffic.” The report said the pickup had been following the snow plow in curves.
Hundreds of Minnesotans die in car accidents each year, with each instance raising immeasurable emotional pain and countless legal questions. The Minnesota car accident lawyers at PritzkerOlsen Attorneys in Minneapolis are deeply experienced in these tragedies and have a national reputation for representing injured car accident victims and the survivors of those who die in multi-vehicle crashes.
