3 taken to hospital after van crashes into garbage truck

Published 12:32 pm Thursday, December 24, 2020

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Three people were taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea Wednesday afternoon after a van crashed into a Waste Management truck in eastern Freeborn County.

Dean Allen Thordor, 46, of Hayward, a 4-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy were taken by ambulance to Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, according to the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office. The 4-year-old girl was ultimately taken to Rochester for facial injuries deemed not life-threatening.

The Sheriff’s Office stated the 2007 Freightliner Waste Management truck had just picked up garbage at 87687 Freeborn County Road 46 and was parked on the south shoulder facing eastbound at about 12:06 p.m. when it was struck by a 2008 Chryler Town & Country driven by Thordor.

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The Sheriff’s Office stated the minivan was eastbound on County Road 46 when it experienced a malfunction and started drifting to the right on the road, ultimately hitting the back driver’s side of the garbage truck with the passenger side of the van going about 50 mph. The truck was moved about 10 yards forward in the crash.

The garbage truck was driven by Zaccariah Daniel Stuart, 40, of rural Alden. He was not injured.