Back-to-back multivehicle crashes just as the Friday morning commute was starting brought traffic to a halt on a west metro highway, left a police squad damaged and sent one driver running from the scene, officials said.
Video: Back-to-back crashes halt traffic on Hwy. 169; driver hits squad car, runs off
A semitrailer driver jackknifed trying to avoid the initial crash on the dark highway.
December 29, 2023 at 4:44PM
The first of two pileups occurred shortly before 5 a.m. near the Hopkins-Minnetonka border on southbound Hwy. 169 at Excelsior Boulevard, State Patrol Lt. Jill Frankfurth said.
A passenger vehicle spun out on the pavement's frosty glaze and was blocking other drivers, Frankfurth said. A Minnetonka squad arrived and was hit by a driver in an SUV, which also struck the vehicle that had spun out, she said.
A Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic camera captured the SUV driver getting out of his vehicle, leaping over the concrete barrier and fleeing across the northbound lanes and into the darkness.
The passenger vehicle's driver was taken to a nearby hospital for noncritical injuries. The police officer in the damaged squad was not hurt, the lieutenant said.
Moments later in the same area, a semitrailer truck slid out of control as it neared the crash scene and jackknifed, Frankfurth said. Several approaching vehicles then hit the big rig, she said. No injuries were reported.
Traffic remained clogged on southbound Hwy. 169 until about 6:45 a.m.
