Dakota County has second fatal crash in 24 hours

A 78-year-old Rochester woman was killed Saturday in a four-vehicle crash in Dakota County, the latest victim of fatal crashes on Minnesota roads in the past three days.

According to the State Patrol, Brenda K. Travis was a passenger in a 2012 Toyota Camry driven by Glen Travis, 81, of Dodge Center. They were headed north on Hwy. 56 in Hampton when a westbound 2014 GMC Terrain driven by Lori J. Hoefs, 55, of Oronoco, ran a stop sign on County Road 88 and broadsided them. The Toyota was pushed into the southbound lane of Hwy. 56, where it hit a 2010 Ford Edge driven by Erica Myking, 36, of Burnsville. A fourth vehicle, a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am, was damaged by crash debris.

Brenda Travis died at the scene, the patrol said. Glen Travis suffered serious injuries. Hoef was not hurt. Myking also was not injured, but her passenger, Renee Piersas, 36, of Bloomington, suffered noncritical injuries. All five were wearing seat belts and alcohol use is not suspected, the patrol said. It did not identify the driver of the fourth vehicle.

It was the second Dakota County fatality in less than 24 hours. On Friday afternoon, a 16-year-old Rochester girl was killed and six people were injured in a head-on crash on Hwy. 52.

Sahra Ahmed died when the northbound 1999 Toyota Corolla she was a passenger in veered onto the shoulder near the Hwy. 52 intersection with Hwy. 50, overcorrected, then crossed several lanes and hit a southbound 2014 Kia Soul head-on. The Toyota then rolled over and several people in it were thrown out.

Four people in the Toyota were injured. They were Affey Asdiraham, 18, the driver; Ali Mustaf, 17; Suad Ahmed, 16, and Edna Ahmed, 14, all of Rochester. The passengers were all friends of the driver. Asdiraham and Mustaf were wearing seat belts, but the others were not and suffered more serious injuries, the patrol said.

Karen Arbuckle, 54, the driver of the Kia, and her father, Brandon Bjerke, 87, both of Farmington, suffered noncritical injuries. Both were wearing seat belts.

No alcohol use was detected in any of the people involved, the patrol said.

In a crash earlier Friday in Isanti County, Blake Hinton, 57, of Ham Lake, was killed when the 1998 Corvette he was driving north on Hwy. 65 near 361st Avenue NE. in Cambridge drifted into the southbound lane and hit a semitrailer truck head-on.

Meanwhile, the name of a man killed Thursday night in a head-on crash in Olmsted County was released. Nicholas Hamblin, 26, of Byron, was driving north on Hwy. 63 about 7:30 p.m. when his 2008 Honda Civic crossed the centerline and struck a southbound 2003 Ford F-150 pickup.

Hamblin, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene. The pickup driver and his passenger suffered noncritical injuries. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor.