Three people were killed Friday night when a motorcycle and a car collided in western Wisconsin, while at least one person died in a crash in western Minnesota.
According to the St. Croix County (Wis.) Sheriff's Office, first responders were called to the intersection of Hwy. 64 and County Road T in Stanton Township at 7:10 p.m. after a motorcycle westbound on Hwy. 64 struck a car traveling north on County Road T. Traffic on the highway has the right of way, while the county road has a stop sign, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. "However, the St. Croix County Emergency Communications Center had received a call moments before the crash reporting that the stopsign ... had been knocked down," it said, adding that it will "continue this crash investigation working to verify the report concerning the stop sign, in addition to other factors."
Dead at the scene were the motorcycle driver, Cody Lynn Cook-Terhurne, 34, of Somerset, Wis.; the driver of the car, Thomas John Plasch, 55, of Oakdale, Minn., and his passenger, Miriam Rosal Espinosa, 46, also of Oakdale.
Cook-Terhurne was not wearing a helmet, the Sheriff's Office said.
The three deaths were the sixth, seventh and eighth traffic fatalities in St. Croix County this year.
In Minnesota, at least one person died just after 11 p.m. Friday in a crash in Wilkin County. According to the State Patrol, a pickup and an SUV collided at the intersection of Hwy. 9 and County Road 30 in Atherton Township after the pickup failed to stop at a stop sign on the country road. The patrol expected to release more information later Saturday.
