Wright County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and crews from the Monticello Fire Department responded to a multiple vehicle accident on Wright County Highway 39 near the border of Monticello Township and Otsego, near Iffert Avenue, late Monday afternoon.
Dispatch was called, according to a report filed by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and news reports published by the Monticello Times, to the scene around 3:30 p.m. Monday after a motorcyclist struck the rear end of a Saturn sedan. The bike, unoccupied after the rider was separated from it during impact, was then crushed by an oncoming semi truck that was headed westbound on the county road.
According to the sheriff’s office, the injured rider, Mark Erickson, 44, of Monticello, was transported to North Memorial Hospital via Air Care. According to his CaringBridge site, Erickson, who is Monticello Fire Chief Steve Joerg’s brother-in-law, suffered broken vertebrae in his back, a broken sternum, and brain bleeds. However, he is alert, talking, resting and preparing for surgery later this week, a report filed on the site states.
The driver of the Saturn, 23-year-old Samantha Zadow of Monticello, and 51-year-old Richard Halldorson of Anoka, the driver of the truck, were both uninjured.
Wright County deputies believe Zadow was waiting for the truck to clear her path before turning left into a driveway north off of County Road 39 when Erickson struck her. The Minnesota State Patrol was helping reconstruct the accident and investigate any further cause.