Two women and a man are dead after an SUV smashed into a semi-truck northwest of Legal Monday night.
Morinville RCMP closed part of Highway 2 northwest of Legal between Highway 651 and Township Road 580 on Tuesday, Aug. 10, as they investigated a fatal crash between an SUV and a semi that happened the previous night.
RCMP had received multiple complaints about an SUV driving erratically near Athabasca and Westlock on Monday, Aug. 9, said K-Division spokesperson Cpl. Susan Richter. Witnesses said the vehicle was swerving about and trying to pass other drivers, and at one point was driving in the ditch.
Soon after one witness called in a description of the erratic vehicle, that witness saw the SUV had collided with a northbound semi on Highway 2 between Highway 651 and Township Road 580 (north of what locals call Wheeler’s Corner).
Morinville RCMP arrived on scene at about 11:20 p.m. Aug. 9.
“We think the SUV went head-on or somehow collided with and ended up under the semi,” Richter said, adding that the SUV was totally destroyed.
Highway 2 at that location is one lane in either direction with a 100 km/h speed limit.
The two women and one man in the SUV were pronounced dead at the scene, Richter said. Police had yet to determine the ages or identities of the deceased. The driver of the semi, a 34-year-old man from Edmonton, was uninjured but shaken up by the collision.
Police expected to reopen Highway 2 by noon Aug. 10, Richter said. No charges have been laid.
Richter asked anyone who witnessed the collision or had dash-cam footage of it to contact Morinville RCMP at 780-939-1600.
