BENSON -- A 73-year-old Murdock woman was killed Friday on Minnesota Highway 9 west of Sunburg when she swerved to avoid a mattress that had fallen out of a truck, lost control and struck a semitrailer hauling sugar beets.
Lucille Louise Olson died of the injuries she suffered in the head-on crash, the Minnesota State Patrol reported.
The crash occurred at 11:47 a.m. about five miles west of Sunburg on Highway 9.
Olson was driving a 1998 Buick Park Avenue eastbound on the highway when a mattress fell out of the back of a westbound 1993 Chevrolet GMT-400 pickup driven by Matthew Clee Ward, 23, of Montevideo. The mattress landed in the eastbound lane and Olson swerved to avoid it but hit a portion of it. She lost control of her vehicle and went into the westbound lane. Her car struck a westbound 1999 International 9000 Series tractor and semitrailer rig driven by Jose Luis Arellano-Orea, 47, of Fairbault.
Arellano-Orea was not injured. Ward had no apparent injuries either, according to the accident report.
