MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were killed and four others were injured early Tuesday after a stolen passenger vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer in southeast Minneapolis, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Officers responded to the crash at approximately 4:12 a.m. and found seven people trapped inside a stolen Hyundai Elantra. Two males seated in the front of the vehicle and a female seated in the rear died at the scene, police said. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will release their identities.
Minneapolis firefighters extricated four other passengers from the rear seat. The injured passengers were identified as two 18-year-old men, a 17-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy. Ambulances transported all four to Hennepin Healthcare for treatment of potentially life-threatening injuries.
According to an updated release from Minneapolis police, the Elantra was traveling west on Southeast Fourth Street when it struck the trailer of a semi-tractor-trailer traveling south on the Interstate 35W exit ramp and crossing Southeast Fourth Street.
The Elantra became lodged beneath the trailer. Both vehicles eventually stopped on Ninth Avenue Southeast between Southeast Fourth Street and University Avenue Southeast.
Investigators believe the speed of the stolen vehicle contributed to the crash. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured and cooperated with police.
Minneapolis police traffic investigators and forensic scientists processed the crash scene and collected evidence as part of the investigation.
The southbound I-35W exit to Southeast Fourth Street and Ninth Avenue Southeast were closed for several hours while investigators worked at the scene.
Police are continuing to investigate the sequence of events leading up to the crash.
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