Two motorists from same family collide head on in North Dakota, killing one

FARGO — Two members of the identical prolonged household who had been driving separate automobiles had been concerned in a head-on crash that killed certainly one of them Saturday in north-central North Dakota.

Miranda “Mandy” Weninger, 38, of Anamoose, died when the car she was driving was hit head-on by one other car pushed by her great-uncle Donald Weninger, 88, of Harvey.

She died on the crash scene, and he was significantly injured and brought to a medical heart in Harvey, then flown to a Minot hospital, based on the North Dakota Freeway Patrol.

Mandy Weninger’s mom, Lori Weninger, stated her daughter was headed southeast to work in Harvey on the time, whereas Donald Weninger was headed northwest to attend a funeral in Anamoose.

“My daughter was a really caring, big-hearted individual,” Lori Weninger advised the Discussion board Information Service.

The Freeway Patrol stated the crash occurred on Freeway 52 roughly 1 mile east of Anamoose in McHenry County at round 10:10 a.m. Saturday.

Highway situations had been good, and the climate was clear on the time, the Freeway Patrol stated.

Mandy Weninger was on her approach to her job within the dietary division at St. Aloisius Medical Heart in Harvey, a couple of 20-mile drive from the household farm.

When she didn’t arrive, co-workers known as the household’s dwelling telephone questioning the place she was. Lori Weninger went to search for her daughter, figuring she had automotive hassle.

Alongside the route, she noticed an indication saying there was a crash forward.

“I knew instantly she have to be concerned in it,” Lori Weninger stated.

The Freeway Patrol stated a pickup with Donald Weninger on the wheel was westbound on Freeway 52 behind a Freightliner semi.

He was within the means of making an attempt to go the semi when the pickup struck an eastbound car with Mandy Weninger on the wheel.

The pickup then hit the semi earlier than coming to relaxation on the north shoulder of the roadway, the Freeway Patrol stated.

The semi driver, 23-year-old Kenneth Griffiths, of Lethbridge, Alberta, was carrying a seat belt and was not injured.

The opposite two drivers needed to be extricated from their automobiles. Donald Weninger was not carrying a seat belt, whereas the Freeway Patrol stated they weren’t in a position to decide whether or not Mandy Weninger was belted in.

Lori Weninger stated her uncle has a damaged pelvis, damaged ribs, crushed foot and head trauma. He’s been advised his great-niece was killed within the crash, however he denies hitting one other car.

“He’s not conscious of that or doesn’t do not forget that,” Lori Weninger stated. “Why he tried to go a semi that near city … that’s my largest query, and that’s in all probability one we’ll by no means know.”

Lori Weninger stated her uncle mustn’t have been driving as a consequence of his superior age. Others who had been in a car with him lately stated his driving made them uncomfortable, she stated.

Nonetheless, she doesn’t wish to pile blame for her daughter’s demise on her uncle.

“If I get an opportunity the place he’s coherent sufficient, I wish to inform him in individual that I forgive him so he may very well be at peace with it. What else are you able to do? You can not maintain resentment and hate him for that. … That’s not who I’m,” she stated.

Trooper Preston Langer stated prices in opposition to Donald Weninger aren’t being dominated out.

“We’re not saying there can be. We’re simply going to complete the investigation to make that willpower,” Langer stated.