The Iowa State Patrol’s investigating the cause of a crash Sunday evening on Interstate-80 near Grinnell. Thirty-eight-year-old Melinda Maciel-Peterson of Las Vegas tells troopers she was driving westbound when a rear tire blew out, and her van went into the median, rolling over into the eastbound lane and striking a car driven by 46-year-old Kathryn Brown of Prairie Village, Kansas.
Captain Dan Walker of the State Patrol says ambulances took five people to area hospitals. They’re identified as Micah Beckman, Eileen Beckman, Brooke Beckman, Ashley Beckman and the driver, all of them buckled in at the time of the crash. A sixth person, 16-year-old Jamie Maciel, was not wearing a seatbelt, and was airlifted to a hospital in Des Moines. The driver of the second car escaped injury.
Traffic on Interstate 80 was backed up for nearly an hour in the area just west of the Grinnell exit.