A young mother is in critical condition after a semitrailer truck ran a red light in Eagan and smashed into her SUV, authorities say.
The collision happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday at Cliff Road and Pilot Knob Road, Eagan police reported Monday evening.
Police said that preliminary investigation indicates the semi was westbound on Cliff Road when its driver ran a red light and struck the southbound SUV on the driver’s side. The impact caused the semi to roll onto its side, spilling the truck’s load of sand onto the roads and forcing their closure for about four hours.
The driver of the SUV, 33-year-old Alayna Tanaka, was in critical condition at St. Paul’s Regions Hospital as of Tuesday afternoon. The driver of the semi, 50-year-old Todd Steven Franklin, was taken by ambulance to the hospital but treated and released.
Tanaka, a mother of two, is from Eagan. She sustained a traumatic brain injury in the crash as well as several broken bones, according to information posted to her CaringBridge page.
She has been unresponsive since undergoing surgery Monday night and has at least one additional surgery ahead, her family reported on the web site.
Franklin is from Randolph, Minn.
The crash remains under investigation.
The roads were closed until about 4 p.m. Monday as the Minnesota State Patrol worked to reconstruct the crash.