RURAL PALO ALTO COUNTY – One person is dead after a driver adjusted his car mirror and ran over a family on their bicycles.
Duane Francis Anderson, age 83 of Estherville, Iowa, was driving southbound on County Road N40 in his 2006 Dodge van at about 1:26 PM on Tuesday, June 26 when, according to a report from the Iowa State Patrol, he began to adjust his mirror. At the same time, a family of 3 were on two bicycles, also traveling southbound, side-by-side in the outer portion of the same lane. Anderson allegedly failed to see the bicyclists and then struck both of them.
Killed in the collision was 36-year-old Luke Bryan Rouse of Emmetsburg, Iowa; he and bicycle were thrown into the west ditch. Injured was 33-year-old Lacey Jo Rouse, also of Emmetsburg, and her four-year-old son Hank. They were knocked down. Lacey Jo Rouse was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
The accident remains under investigation.