A woman in a car driven by an unlicensed driver from central Minnesota was killed in a collision that was among many crashes involving more than 20 vehicles amid blizzard conditions in eastern North Dakota, officials said.
The collision between the car and a semitrailer truck occurred about 11:20 a.m. Monday on a windswept rural stretch of snow-covered road about 12 miles south of Grand Forks, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said.
The passenger was identified by the patrol as 26-year-old Stephanie Jeane Cluever of Little Falls, Minn.
The car's driver, 21-year-old Julio Lazaro Huertas of Waite Park, Minn., was hospitalized in Grand Forks with noncritical injuries, and unspecified charges against him are pending, patrol Sgt. Christopher Schaefer said Tuesday.
Schaefer said Huertas was driving despite his license being revoked. Court records in Minnesota show that he was on probation at the time of the crash stemming from his being sentenced in September in Wright County for drunken driving when he was 18 years old.
About 90 minutes before the collision and a few miles to the northwest, blowing snow contributed to numerous crashes on Interstate 29 between Grand Forks and Thompson, N..D., the patrol said.
The toll included about 20 trucks and passenger vehicles, and a Thompson fire and rescue rig, according to the patrol. No serious injuries were reported.
According to the patrol about the fatal accident:
The car was heading north on County Road 81 when it hit a southbound semi at an angle. Both vehicles went into the ditch.
Cluever was declared dead at the scene by emergency responders.
The semi driver, Ross Radermacher, 28, of Amenia, N.D., and his passenger, 39-year-old Curtis Mann, of Durbin, N.D., were not hurt.
