WINONA, Minn. – Police cut open a hopelessly wrecked car and extricated the driver after a three-vehicle collision five miles up Highway 43 from Winona. Adam Mohammed Elmi, 55, of Rochester, was air-lifted to a LaCrosse hospital with non-life threatening but serious injuries. Two other people were taken to the Winona hospital, also with non-life threatening injuries: Adam Mohammed Elmi, 55, Rochester, and Melisa Ann Gruber, 34 ,of Winona. The trucker, William Ralph Mackey, 75, of Walnut Shade, Missouri, was unhurt. The accident was about 8:40 a.m. in a two-lane section of Highway 43 near the County Road 21 junction to the tableland above Gilmore Valley.
What happened
Police said a 2007 Dodge Caravan, driven by Elmi, was passing a 2019 Peterbilt truck driven by Mackey. Mackey was towing a trailer unit. Both were headed upgrade toward the Wilson interchange with Interstate 90. The Dodge collided headed-on with a 2009 Chrysler 300, driven by Gruber. She was headed downhill toward Winona. The pavement was dry.