Three die in separate crashes on northern Minnesota highways

Three people died in three separate vehicle crashes on northern Minnesota highways on Thursday.

• The Minnesota State Patrol reported that a 65-year-old Hibbing, Minn., man died Thursday morning when his pickup truck collided head-on with a semi on State Highway 37 near Range Regional Airport.

The patrol said Curtis Leppa was driving east on Highway 37 at Dublin Road at about 9:45 a.m. when his Chevrolet Silverado collided with the westbound semi. The driver of the semi suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

• A 51-year-old Grand Forks, N.D., man died when his SUV rear-ended a semi on U.S. Highway 2 east of Crookston, Minn., at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The patrol said the crash happened near County Highway 46 in Gentilly Township. Christopher Bacon was traveling west in a Chevrolet Tahoe when he rear-ended a westbound semi. The driver of the semi was not injured.

• A 66-year-old Deer River, Minn., woman died when her car crossed the center line and collided with a van on U.S. Highway 2 a few miles east of Grand Rapids, Minn., just before 6 p.m. Thursday.

The patrol said Patricia Francois was traveling west in a Dodge Caliber when it struck an eastbound Chevrolet Express van.

The driver of the van, 59-year-old Peter Boyd of Wawina, Minn., was airlifted to Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth with what the patrol said were life-threatening injuries.