The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

June 5, 2009

14-year-old crashes SUV

Vehicle goes off road in early morning

By Dan Nienaber

MADISON LAKE — A sport utility vehicle full of teens, including a 14-year-old driver, crashed into a ditch early Friday morning after the driver lost control while driving south on Highway 60.

David Chacon of Mankato, the driver of the 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe, and 16-year-old Brandon Westphal of Madison Lake were treated at Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital and released after the crash, which was reported at 3:52 a.m.

Condition reports were not immediately available Friday for the three remaining passengers, 16-year-old Levi Erickson, 15-year-old Dylan Smisek and 15-year-old Eric Kelly, all of Mankato.

The Tahoe is owned by Chacon’s father, who is also named David Chacon, a State Patrol report said.

Terry Tonn, who lives just north of the intersection where Highway 60 joins Highway 14, said he heard his dog, Taz, start barking at about 3:40 a.m.

“The only thing I can think of is (Taz) must have heard the crunching metal,” Tonn said.

The sounds of sirens followed and Tonn went outside to see what was going on after the red lights started flashing at the end of his driveway. Blue Earth County sheriff’s deputies and troopers had closed the highway while rescuers got the victims into ambulances.

A rut next to a creek bed on the east side of the highway shows where the Tahoe plowed into the dirt, Tonn said. Chacon was driving south on Highway 60 from Madison Lake, lost control about a third of a mile before the Highway 14 entrance, skid across the northbound lane and crashed into the east ditch, the State Patrol said.

Mark DeVlaemink, Westphal’s father, said Westphal was doing fine Friday afternoon. DeVlaemink said he did not know what his son and the others were doing prior to the crash.

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