Police: Alcohol may have contributed to crash that killed 3

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Investigators say alcohol may have played a role in a traffic crash that killed three people and injured two others in Grand Forks last weekend.

According to police, the 21-year-old driver who caused the crash, Jenessa Kelley of Crookston, Minnesota, has died of her injuries at the hospital. Two people from Fertile, Minnesota who were in a van that was struck were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash Saturday afternoon.

Witnesses told police Kelley was driving at an extremely high rate of speed before she struck a car and an SUV in downtown Grand Forks. The people in those two vehicles were not seriously injured.

Authorities say Kelley then struck a Dodge Caravan, killing the driver, 52-year-old Laura Van Erem and a front-seat passenger, 72-year-old Nancy Sand, KVLY-TV reported. A teen passenger was injured and taken to Altru Hospital.

A passenger in Kelley’s vehicle was also injured and taken to the hospital.

Police say the Buick Regal driven by Kelley matches the description of a vehicle recently involved in a hit-and-run accident in East Grand Forks.