One man dead, another injured in head-on collision on Hwy. 12 in Independence

A man from Montrose, Minn., was killed late Friday when his sedan collided head-on with a westbound SUV on Hwy. 12 in Independence, a stretch of road that highway safety advocates have dubbed the “Corridor of Death” for its accidents.

Destin Michael Ertel, 32, was declared dead at the scene of injuries from the crash, according to the West Hennepin Public Safety Department. The SUV driver, a 35-year-old Bloomington man, was taken to a local hospital by North Memorial Ambulance in serious condition.

According to authorities, one of the vehicles crossed over the center line and collided with the other shortly after 10 p.m. Friday, near Lake Haughey Road. It wasn’t known whether alcohol was a factor, but driver distraction may have played a role in the crash, authorities said.

Authorities closed that area of Hwy. 12 for five hours from late Friday into Saturday, when they reopened the highway at 3 a.m. West Hennepin police were investigating the accident, with help from the State Patrol, Hennepin and Wright County sheriff’s offices, and other local agencies.

A Minnesota Department of Transportation report issued in 2022 found that fatal crashes were “expected to continue if no changes are made” to the busy stretch of Hwy. 12 that goes through Independence. The Highway 12 Safety Coalition has named Hwy. 12 between Delano and Maple Plain the “Corridor of Death” for the number of crashes there since 2009, including at least eight fatal collisions.

West metro leaders and law enforcement officers along Hwy. 12 have met since 2014 to improve the two-lane highway, which is said to have been mostly unchanged since the 1930s. Advocates have lobbied for four lanes and a median barrier in the area of Friday’s accident. The corridor carries between 14,000 and 19,000 vehicles daily.

Staff writer Tim Harlow contributed to this story.