Six people injured in four-vehicle crash on I-29 near Colfax, North Dakota; Driver charged with DUI

RICHLAND COUNTY, N.D. (KFGO – The North Dakota Highway Patrol says six people were injured in a four-vehicle chain-reaction crash that happened on northbound I-29 shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday near Colfax.

A portion of the northbound interstate had been closed about an hour earlier when a Day County, South Dakota Ambulance caught fire as it drove north on I-29.. The driver and two others escaped the ambulance fire.

While I-29 was closed by the fire, a car approached the stopped traffic line on the interstate, failed to stop, and rear-ended another car and it was pushed into the rear of a stopped pickup, which then rear-ended another vehicle.

The driver of the first vehicle, 28-year-old Donald Lawuya, of Fargo, and four people in other vehicles were transported to Sanford Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. 59-year-old Jodie Erfle, of West Fargo, the driver of the second vehicle that was struck, suffered serious, life-threatening injuries and was also taken to Sanford Hospital.

Lawuya was arrested at Sanford Hospital for DUI, DUI-Refusal, and Driving Under Suspension.