Authorities investigating three fatal crashes in Twin Cities metro area
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Authorities are investigating three separate fatal crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists in the Twin Cities metro area in less than a day.
Two of the crashes happened Friday morning — one along U.S. Highway 169 near Shakopee, and the other along State Highway 47 in St. Francis. The third happened Thursday afternoon in White Bear Township.
St. Francis
The Minnesota State Patrol said a bicyclist died Friday morning after being struck by a school bus in Anoka County. It happened at about 7:30 a.m. along State Highway 47 at Ambassador Boulevard in St. Francis.
“Early indications show that a school bus driven by an adult female was attempting to turn south onto (Highway 47) from eastbound Ambassador Blvd NW, when it crashed into an adult male riding a bicycle,” the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office reported.
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The man — identified as 20-year-old Brady Gerald Ausland of Oak Grove — died at the scene.
Other than the 42-year-old driver, there was no one else aboard the bus at the time of the crash.
The crash happened not far from several schools and education facilities in St. Francis. That stretch of Highway 47 was closed Friday morning at authorities investigated the crash.
There have been concerns about pedestrian safety along that stretch of highway for years, stemming from previous crashes.
Shakopee
Southbound U.S. Highway 169 near Shakopee was closed for several hours Friday morning following a fatal crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian.
The crash happened at about 6 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the freeway near Old Brick Yard Road. According to the State Patrol, the driver of an SUV saw a stalled car on the right shoulder, and moved to the left lane — where a man was standing. The SUV hit the man, and he died from his injuries.
The Patrol identified the man as 25-year-old Firaol Abebe Mebratu of Marshall. The Patrol did not say whether he had been driving the stalled car.
The two people in the SUV were not physically injured.
Southbound traffic was diverted off Highway 169 at the Old Brick Yard Road exit while investigators worked at the crash scene. The highway reopened to traffic by 8:45 a.m.
The northbound lanes of Highway 169 were not affected by the closure.
White Bear Township
A White Bear Lake man was charged Friday with criminal vehicular homicide for allegedly driving drunk, hitting a pedestrian and fleeing the scene on Thursday afternoon in White Bear Township.
The crash happened along White Bear Parkway at Birch Lake Boulevard, just east of Interstate 35E. The criminal complaint said a woman was crossing the street in a crosswalk — with other vehicles stopped — when an SUV struck her.
“When deputies arrived, they found a good Samaritan doing CPR on a 72-year-old woman from White Bear Lake,” the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office reported. “Medics arrived a short time later and were unable to save the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The SUV — allegedly driven by 46-year-old Christopher Ronald Olson — did not stop. Court documents allege Olson went to the White Bear Lake Police Department a short time later and admitted to drinking before the crash.
Court documents show that Olson has two prior DWI convictions.