State Patrol Revises Version of Horrific Traffic Wreck Near Eyota
Rochester, MN (KROC AM News) - One year after a horrific traffic wreck in rural Olmsted County, the Minnesota State Patrol has released its final report - and it shows the initial version was wrong.
Two cars collided on I-90 near Eyota around 1:30 AM Aug. 2, 2019, and six people were killed, three in each vehicle.
Two of the victims were from Rochester - 26-year-old Christopher Peterson, the driver and 47-year-old Ester Peters. The third victim in their car was 23-year-old Shayla Peterson of Paynesville.
At the time, the State Patrol says they were in a car that was westbound on I-90 when it collided with a vehicle that was going the wrong way.
The other car was driven by 54-year-old Sheila Eagle of Waukesha, Wisc. Her passengers were 29-year-old Tamara Eagle and 11-year-old Nyobee Eagle Richardson, also of Waukesha. The State Patrol report later that day stated:
The Minnesota State Patrol is investigating an early morning fatal crash on I-90 near Eyota that took the lives of six people. Preliminary reports indicate a Ford Focus was going the wrong-way, heading eastbound, when it struck a Chrysler Sebring heading westbound on I-90 near mile post 223.
The Ford was being driven by Eagle.
The final report that was based on GPS coordinates and other information has concluded it was Peterson who was going the wrong way: “ The Ford was traveling westbound when they were struck by a vehicle traveling the wrong direction.”
The report says Peterson had stopped at the Marion rest stop and when he left, he was driving east in the westbound lanes. And an unknown drug apparently played a major role. The report says all three occupants of the Peterson car were at least partially under the influence of an unknown substance "which may have contributed the Chrysler entering the freeway traveling in the wrong direction." Peterson was also driving with a revoked license.
The report includes the primary causal factor in the crash: "Christopher Peterson driving under the influence of a controlled substance."
Here is the full report.
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