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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010
CONTACT: Lt. Alan Welsh, SD Highway Patrol, (605) 367-5700
Highway 38 Fatal Crash
What: Four-vehicle fatal crash
When: Monday, Sept. 20, 2010, 7:06 p.m.
Where: Highway 38, mile marker 303, three miles east of Mitchell
Driver 1: Rachael Nichols, 23, Canova, SD, no injuries
Vehicle 1: 1988 Chrysler New Yorker
Driver 2: Douglas Degan, 51, Mitchell, SD, no injuries
Vehicle 2: 1999 Chevrolet Silverado
Driver 3: Jon B. Christensen, 44, Mitchell, SD, fatal
Vehicle 3: Kawasaki motorcycle
Driver 4: Justin Brian Iburg, 20, Mitchell, no injuries
Vehicle 4: 1999 Chevrolet S10
MITCHELL, S.D. – A Mitchell man died Monday in a four-vehicle crash shortly after 7 p.m. on S.D. Highway 38 three miles east of Mitchell.
Jon B. Christensen, 44, was riding a Kawasaki motorcycle. He was stopped behind two other vehicles at a road-construction site when a 1999 Chevrolet S10 pickup driven by Justin Brian Iburg, 20, of Mitchell, collided with the motorcycle. The collision threw Christensen from his motorcycle. The impact caused a chain reaction where vehicle three struck vehicle two, and vehicle two then struck vehicle one.
Iburg stated he was distracted by his cell phone just before the crash.
Christensen was wearing a helmet, but he died while being transported to a Sioux Falls hospital. No one else was injured in the crash.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating. The Davison County Sheriff’s Office, Hanson County Sheriff’s Office, Mitchell Ambulance and Fire, and Alexandria Fire Department assisted.
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