(Superior)– Two personal injury accidents within minutes of each other late Wednesday afternoon west of Superior injured multiple people, one seriously.
The first involved four vehicles. It happened around 4:49 pm at the Jackson Y, or the intersection of Highways 9 and 71 north. The Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office says 58-year-old Kimberly Mueller of Estherville was driving a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox eastbound on Highway 9 and collided with a vehicle that had stopped for road construction, resulting in a chain reaction collision. Mueller was taken to Lakes Regional Healthcare with incapacitating injuries and was transferred by air to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls. The vehicle she was driving was totaled. Other vehicles involved included a 2019 Dodge Durango driven by 57-year-old Julie Schmitt of Graettinger. Damage to her vehicle was put at $18,000 She was treated on the scene for possible injuries and released. The 15-year-old driver of a 2019 Toyota Camry and a passenger in that vehicle, 75-year-old Linda Storey of Okoboji, were treated on the scene and released. The vehicle was totaled. The driver of a 2011 Ford pickup, 48-year-old Casey Kirkpatrick of Estherville, was also treated on the scene for possible injuries and was released. Authorities say all of the vehicles were eastbound.
A second collision occurred about a half hour so later at a nearby intersection where traffic was being detoured from the scene of the first accident. This one was reported at 5:24 pm at the intersection of 140th Street and 290th Avenue. Authorities say 53-year-old Nicole Recker-Ware of Estherville was driving a 2013 Dodge Charger northbound on 290th
Avenue and 38-year-old Steven Reighard of Estherville was driving a 2019 GMC Acadia westbound on 140th Street, resulting in a T-bone collision. The vehicle driven by Recker-Ware rolled, coming to rest in a field, with Reighard’s vehicle winding up in the ditch. Both drivers and a 10-year-old passenger in Reighard’s vehicle were taken by ambulance to Lakes Regional Healthcare with non-incapacitating injuries. Damage to the vehicle driven by Recker-Ware was estimated at $10,000; damage to the one driven by Reighard was put at $17,000.
