State trooper injured in three-car crash on I-94

Icy roads are being blamed for a three-car pileup on I-94 Friday night. The last car to be hit was a Minnesota State Patrol vehicle, according to the Pioneer Press.

Trooper Jared Sturgill, 40, of Golden Valley was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. His car was on the shoulder with emergency lights on, when a southbound vehicle skidded and struck another vehicle. That vehicle then slid across all lanes of traffic and struck the squad car

WCCO reports the trooper had stopped to help a driver who had gone off the road on the freeway near Highway 55.

The driver of the first car, Yuepeng Vang, 24, of Minneapolis; his passenger, Cherisia Vang, 18, of Minneapolis; and the driver of the second vehicle, Dominic Babcock, 54, of Brooklyn Park were not injured.

Alcohol was not a factor, the State Patrol said.

The State Patrol incident report says the squad car was broadsided, and the Minneapolis police were called to assist.