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Eagle Lake man killed in I-94 crash
Originally published 09:51 a.m., February 8, 2010
Updated 03:37 p.m., February 8, 2010
DALTON — An 18-year-old Eagle Lake man died early this morning after being hit by a vehicle on I-94 that set off a chain reaction of accidents Sunday afternoon near Dalton.
By the time all was said and done, Dalton Fire Chief Eric Mounts estimates at least 15 vehicles ended up in the ditch between the on and off ramps at the Dalton exit, located on I-94 at milemarker 67.
The situation began shortly after 4 p.m. when a vehicle driven by a woman with two male passengers went off the road and into a ditch. The two men left the vehicle and were walking in the median when they were struck by a 1998 Jeep driven by Katy Steidl, 22, of Alexandria that went off the icy and snow-covered interstate. Steidl was not injured in the accident, according to the State Patrol.
Dustin D. Lemke, 18, of Eagle Lake eventually died from injuries sustained in the accident. The other man sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to the State Patrol.
A series of other accidents occurred after the men were hit, one involving a teenage girl who was ejected from her vehicle.
In that accident, a vehicle entered the area of the Dalton exits and swerved to avoid another pedestrian in the road.
The driver of the vehicle struck a guard rail trying to avoid the pedestrian, causing a juvenile female to be ejected from the vehicle, the State Patrol said.
The juvenile female suffered injuries but they were non-life threatening, the State Patrol said.
In addition to these two crashes, several other vehicles were involved in rollovers and numerous vehicle off-road events were reported due to oncoming traffic approaching the accident scenes, the State Patrol said.
“Underneath the bridge, there must have been 15 to 18 vehicles in the ditch,” Mounts said.”There was so much going on down there it was hard to keep a handle on it all.”
As far as accidents are concerned, Sunday’s chain of crashes was the worst Mounts has come upon in his fire and rescue career, he said.
Road conditions were very icy at the time of the accident and light snow made driving conditions worse, according to observations of state troopers.
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