Two motorists were killed late Wednesday night in a collision with a pickup truck that St. Cloud police say fled from an earlier traffic stop.

The incident occurred at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to the St. Cloud Police Department.

According to the department, a St. Cloud police officer saw a pickup truck traveling south on Ninth Avenue North at a high rate of speed with its headlights off. Police said the truck was traveling “well above the posted speed limit.”

The officer pulled the truck over in the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue North. As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver threw something out of the passenger side window and began to flee the scene.

By the time the officer returned to his squad car, the truck was no longer in sight, so the officer did not pursue. When the officer searched the area of the traffic stop, he found that the item thrown from the truck was a firearm.

At that same time, a crash occurred in the 1300 block of 10th Avenue North.

An initial investigation by police determined that the fleeing truck was heading north on 10th Avenue North at “an extremely high rate of speed.” A passenger car was traveling west on 13th Street North. The truck T-boned the car in the intersection.

The car’s two occupants, a 59-year-old male driver and a 45-year-old male passenger, both from St. Cloud, died, police said.

The driver of the truck, a 26-year-old man from Sauk Rapids, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital, where police say he was in critical condition.

This case is under investigation by St. Cloud police and the Minnesota State Patrol.

— Forum News Service

Pioneer Press staffers win SPJ honors

Staff writers with the Pioneer Press were recognized with four awards at the annual Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Page One Awards banquet, which was recently held at the Nicollet Island Inn in Minneapolis. The awards rely on judges from out-of-state chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists to review contest entries, in this case within the category of large newspapers.

Molly Guthrey won first place in business feature reporting for her story on home remodeler and cancer survivor Mary Haugh.

Frederick Melo and Mars King of the Pioneer Press received second place in business news reporting for a series of stories on Madison Equities putting its downtown St. Paul property portfolio on the market.

Vikings reporter Dane Mizutani received an honorable mention in “Best Beat Reporting” and sports editor Kevin Cusick won second place for headline submissions.

A full list of Page One Award winners is online at mnspj.org.

— Frederick Melo

Boy, 17, is severely injured in UTV rollover

Early Friday morning, Douglas County dispatchers received a call from someone who found a UTV on its side with the driver, a 17-year-old boy, unresponsive.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the crash occurred on Geneva Road near County Road 20. The call was made shortly after midnight, at 12:38 a.m.

When the sheriff’s office, Alexandria Police Department and North Memorial Ambulance arrived at the scene, the teenage male was removed from the UTV and life-saving measures were initiated.

The news release from the sheriff’s office stated that the investigation revealed the teenager was operating the UTV on Geneva Road. He was northbound when he lost control of the machine and it rolled over multiple times.

According to the sheriff’s office, speed is believed to have been a factor in the crash. The teenager was seat-belted into the UTV, but was not wearing a helmet, it said in the news release.

The teenager sustained life-threatening injuries. He was transported to Alomere Health and then later airlifted to a trauma center, according to the news release.

— Forum News Service

Funeral set for trooper who drowned in S.D.

Funeral services for Minnesota State Patrol trooper Mollie McClure will be held Tuesday in Jackson, Minn.

McClure, 33, of St. Joseph, Minn., drowned Sunday on Waubay Lake in northeastern South Dakota.

Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Jackson County Central School gymnasium, according to her obituary from Turner Jenness Family Funeral Homes in the southwestern Minnesota community. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the school gym.

McClure was in a boat on Waubay Lake in the early evening hours of June 29 when she went into the water for a swim, according to Day County (S.D.) Sheriff Jerred Schreur. An investigation determined that she did not surface. Her body was recovered Monday morning.

McClure was born on June 10, 1992, in Worthington, Minn., according to her obituary.

McClure graduated in 2010 from Jackson County Central High School, according to the Worthington Daily Globe. She attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in physiology with a minor in Spanish studies.

McClure joined the State Patrol in October 2021 and was assigned to the St. Cloud district, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

She was “a respected trooper, mentor, and friend. Her professionalism, compassion, and commitment to service left a lasting impact on her colleagues and the community,” according to the agency.

In 2023, a video of her rescuing a baby deer trapped in a roadside fence went viral on YouTube.

— Forum News Service