BRUCE A two-vehicle collision on Oct. 17 near Bruce led to a massive milk spill, a rolled semi and a battered BATA bus, but there was a silver lining: No one died and injuries appeared to be relatively minor.
The crash occurred at 10:56 a.m. at the intersection of 204th Street and 464th Avenue southwest of Bruce, according to information from the Brookings County Sheriffs Office. The people and vehicles involved were:
- Dennis Bedow, 78, of Brookings who was driving a 2017 Ford Transit vehicle.
- Albertus Schelhaas, 61, of Edgerton, Minnesota, who was driving a 2025 Kenworth T880 semi that was hauling a tanker.
Bedow and Schelhaas who complained of leg and hip pain at the scene were taken to Brookings Health System for evaluation, Assistant Sheriff David Biteler wrote in an Oct. 20 news release. They were later released from the hospital.
The tanker had 7,500 gallons of milk in it when the crash occurred.
Most all the milk was lost from the trailer and accumulated in the nearby bean field, Biteler wrote. (The South Dakota) Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources deemed the spill not to be a threat to the area, and no recovery was ordered.
He told the Brookings Register that even if some of the milk had remained within the tanker, it would have been destroyed because of the tankers seal being broken in the crash.
According to the sheriffs office, Bedow was driving north on 464th Avenue and came to a halt at the stop sign at the intersection with 204th Street. He then began turning left onto 204th Street, and thats when the collision with Schelhaass westbound semi occurred.
Schelhaas saw the bus stop and then continue into the intersection and make a left turn,” Biteler wrote. Schelhaas … was unable to avoid the bus. Schelhaas swerved to the right, made contact with the passenger side of the bus, entered the north ditch and rolled over.”
After the semi came to rest on its side, Schelhaas was able to get out of the cab through the damaged roof, Biteler added.
Travis Bortnem, the executive director of the Brookings Area Transit Authority, told the Brookings Register that the bus, while fully insured, was also likely a total loss. It was purchased for $71,500. He noted that his agencys service will not be interrupted, as BATA has several backup vehicles available.
Bortnem said this was just the third time in his 12-year association with BATA that one of its vehicles had been destroyed in an accident. He also pointed out that he expects to receive four new buses in the coming months.
Another complication arising from the crash was raised at Tuesdays Brookings County Commission meeting, where Sheriff Marty Stanwick said it took quite a while for a wrecker to arrive from Sioux Falls to help with the removal of the semi and its tanker.
It was over two hours for that wrecker to get there, he told commissioners. Thats just the way it is; we (have) an issue with wrecker service for the area. Theres going to be down periods, which puts a strain on law enforcement, because we need to stay there.
Biteler wrote that Bedow was issued a citation for failure to yield after stopping before entering the roadway. He added that the sheriffs office is waiting for damage estimates from both companies involved and the landowner.
Agencies responding to the collision were Brookings County Emergency Management which monitored the milk spill Bruce Fire Department and Brookings Ambulance.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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