Late Tuesday night, Reginald S. White made a fateful error. The 49-year-old West St. Paul man entered eastbound Interstate 94 headed the wrong way and slammed head-on into a sport-utility vehicle driven by Jason Norbeck, 21, of Maplewood.
Both drivers were killed on impact. The crash occurred at 11:56 p.m. about a quarter-mile south of Lowry Avenue NE. in Minneapolis. The State Patrol said there was no immediate evidence that alcohol was involved. There were no open containers or smell of alcohol in the vehicles. Toxicology tests are pending.
White left behind his fiancée, Teresa Molinaro, and their two children, Rena, who is 2 1/2 months old, and Reggie, who will be 2 in June. Molinaro said she last heard from her fiancé between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. He told her he was out running errands and would be home in about an hour.
Molinaro said White was an auto mechanic at Apple Suzuki in Shakopee and was studying to become a minister.
"He'd been in rehab two years ago," she said. "We don't know anything right now. I have my speculations but that's my business and that's it.
"He's made a big change in his life," she said. "He would help anybody."
The family of Norbeck could not be reached Wednesday, but friends had started a memorial page on Facebook. According to posts there, Norbeck worked at the Cub Foods store off Rice Street in Maplewood.
"Jason, you were truly a great guy," a friend wrote. "U knew how to make a bad situation into a good one. Life won't be the same without you."
