Names released in Monday's fatal crash on Highway 81
Feb. 21—GRAND FORKS COUNTY — The North Dakota Highway Patrol has released the names of those involved in a fatal crash near Thompson on Monday, Feb. 20.
According to a press release, a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze was heading north on 11th Street Northeast and crossed the centerline, striking a 2012 Kenworth at an angle.
Both vehicles came to rest in the ditch.
Stephanie Jeane Cluever, from Little Falls, Minnesota, was a passenger in the Chevrolet. Cluever, 26, was pronounced dead on the scene.
The 21-year-old driver suffered non-life threatening injuries and was transported to Altru. He has been identified as Julio Lazaro Huertas from Waite Park, Minnesota.
Huertas is charged with driving under revocation, and other charges are pending, the release says.
Both the driver and passenger of the 2012 Kenworth were uninjured. They are 28-year-old Ross Radermacher from Amenia, North Dakota, and 39-year-old Curtis Mann from Durbin, North Dakota.
The crash is under investigation.
Driving conditions were poor at the time of the crash
. The roads were covered in snow and there also was blowing snow.
The crash on Highway 81 happened shortly after multiple vehicles were involved in crashes on Interstate 29 just south of Grand Forks.
More than 21 vehicles, including many semi trucks, were involved in the collisions.
"Visibility was extremely poor and deteriorated very quickly as the snow continued falling," NDHP Sgt. Christopher Schaefer told the Herald. "It almost seemed isolated to that area and that stretch of road. ... You didn't really see much else happening around the Red River Valley at that time — it was just that stretch of road."
