Only Minor Injuries From Nine-Vehicle Chain Reaction Crash in Dakota County

Each week, Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows releases a newsletter.

In case you haven't seen it, Patch has it.

Here is a sample of what was found in the newsletter.

We’re Ready for Spring

With another Monday came another snow storm. Several inches of snow, coupled with high winds, resulted in crashes across southern Dakota County.

One of the more extensive crashes occurred on Dodd Road south of County Road 70, when a total of nine vehicles collided together in a form of “snow bumper cars.” Low speeds at the time of the chain of crashes resulted in very minor injuries to a few drivers.

Due to a large number of crashes in other parts of the county, Deputy Tom Hooper was left to handle all the accident reports; we think he is still working on them. Sergeant Bruce Kammen assisted, as he did on several other crashes that day. 

For a Good Cause

A gathering of law enforcement and correctional deputies from across Dakota County and the metro area got together last Saturday to play basketball and raise money for the family of Cold Spring Police Officer Tom Decker, who was killed in the line of duty on November 29, 2012.

Nearly 40 individuals representing four teams and multiple agencies “grinded it out” on the court for several hours, with the Dakota North Team (Eagan, South St. Paul, Cold Spring, and Savage Police Departments) eventually beat Dakota East (Dakota County Sheriff’s Office and Hastings Police Departments) players for the championship.

However, the real champs were everyone that contributed to making this a successful fundraising event for the Decker family. The event was also heavily covered by KSTP, KARE 11, and Fox 9, with live remotes before and during the game. The other police departments participating included Apple Valley, Rosemount, Farmington, Burnsville, and Lakeville.

Special recognition goes to Sergeant Booker Hodges for coordinating this event with the other agencies. Members of the Dakota East Team included Hastings Officer Dave Bauer and from the DCSO Correctional Deputies Cartier Russell, Muhammed Jackson, Lawrence Peltier, and Darin McGowan; Deputies Sean Qualy and Chris Hamblin; and Detectives Blake Pederson and Mike Fendrick. Over $2,000 was raised to date from the event.