St. Michael Man Killed in Weekend Crash on Highway 12
Around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, 35-year-old Paul Dahlstrom was sitting in the left-hand turn lane in his Pontiac G6 on U.S. Highway 12, attempting to head north onto Hennepin County Highway 92.
He never knew what happened next.
According to West Hennepin Public Safety accounts: A full-sized motor home, driven by Toby Giese, 42, of Kandiyohi, failed to see the stopped car. Giese plowed his RV into the back of the Pontiac, skidded through the busy highway and rolled the RV over onto its roof on the north side of US 12.
Giese and his passenger, Michelle Giese, were rescued from the RV by first responders at the scene. Neither occupant of the RV was injured.
Dahlstrom was removed from his vehicle and airlifted by North Memorial Air Care to North Memorial Medical Center with severe injuries. The father of two later died of those injuries, said director Gary Kroels.
The highway, busy on a Thursday as people left town for one of the final summer weekends prior to the start of school, was shut down for more than four hours. Both vehicles were towed from the scene.
According to multiple media reports, Kroels has told reporters alcohol was a factor in the accident, though he did not state whether or not Giese had been tested and was over the legal blood-alcohol content limit of .08. The crash is under investigation by the Minnesota State Patrol and West Hennepin Public Safety.
A man allegedly drunk behind the wheel of a motor home rear-ended a vehicle west of the Twin Cities on Thursday leaving…
Posted by Minnesota State Patrol on Friday, August 21, 2015