Driver Killed, 4 Injured in Car-Tree Crash

Sioux Falls police say speed and alcohol were factors in a fatal crash Thursday night in which a vehicle struck a tree.

Lieutenant Jerome Miller says police, fire and ambulance crews were called at 10:11pm to the intersection of West Oak Street and South Holly Avenue, where they found a 2005 Mercury Montego with five people in it had struck a tree.

Information Officer Sam Clemens says witnesses told police the northbound vehicle was speeding at around 60 miles per hour when the driver missed the T-intersection at Oak Street.

Miller says two of the occupants had critical, life-threatening injuries and three others had serious injuries.

All five were taken to hospitals, but Miller says the driver died shortly after arriving. The other occupants remain hospitalized, with injuries ranging from serious to critical.

Clemens says one of the passengers, a 23-year-old Sioux Falls man, had been on parole and ran from the scene.

He was captured about a block-and-a-half away and was returned to the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

Lt. Miller says none of the five was wearing a seat belt, and he says police are still investigating.