{"id":49183,"date":"2026-09-12T13:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=49183"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:24:12","slug":"pelican-rapids-woman-killed-driver-faces-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/pelican-rapids-woman-killed-driver-faces-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelican Rapids Woman Killed; Driver Faces Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pelican Rapids Woman Killed; Driver Faces Charges<\/h2>\n

Otter Tail County (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 A Pelican Rapids woman was killed in a head-on Highway 59 crash on September 6.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota State Patrol identified the woman as Basro Hassan Abokar, 51.<\/p>\n

A second driver, Jacob Lee Thatcher, 25, of Fergus Falls, survived the crash.<\/p>\n

Thatcher has since been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.<\/p>\n

Crash Happened on Highway 59<\/h2>\n

The crash happened at 4:50 p.m. in Erhards Grove Township.<\/p>\n

It occurred near mile marker 235 on Highway 59.<\/p>\n

Abokar was driving a 2004 Buick Regal north on the highway.<\/p>\n

Thatcher was driving a 2015 Volkswagen Passat south, according to the State Patrol.<\/p>\n

The vehicles collided in the northbound lane, according to later court records.<\/p>\n

Abokar died at the scene.<\/p>\n

The State Patrol reported that she was wearing a seat belt.<\/p>\n

Thatcher suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening.<\/p>\n

He was taken to a Fergus Falls hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n

The roadway was wet when the crash happened.<\/p>\n

The original Minnesota State Patrol crash report<\/a> listed alcohol as suspected for Thatcher.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob
Jacob Lee Thatcher.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Driver Charged After Investigation<\/h2>\n

Prosecutors charged Thatcher in Otter Tail County District Court on September 10.<\/p>\n

He faces two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.<\/p>\n

Each count carries up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, a witness saw Thatcher’s vehicle weaving before the crash.<\/p>\n

The witness reported seeing the vehicle move toward the ditch and opposing traffic.<\/p>\n

The witness then saw Thatcher’s vehicle swerve into Abokar’s vehicle, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Thatcher told investigators he had consumed alcohol earlier that day.<\/p>\n

He also reported using THC before the crash, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Investigators obtained a blood sample under a search warrant.<\/p>\n

Testing results were pending when the charges were announced.<\/p>\n

Criminal Vehicular Homicide Charges<\/h2>\n

Minnesota law<\/a> covers criminal vehicular homicide involving negligent or impaired driving.<\/p>\n

The charges against Thatcher are allegations.<\/p>\n

He is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

The crash remains a fatal incident investigated by the Minnesota State Patrol.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basro Hassan Abokar of Pelican Rapids was killed in a Highway 59 crash. Jacob Lee Thatcher now faces two criminal vehicular homicide charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[24783,7442,24939,21333,11296,9666,24780,1013,4715,24782],"class_list":["post-49183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-basro-hassan-abokar","tag-criminal-vehicular-homicide","tag-erhards-grove-township","tag-fatal-minnesota-crash","tag-fergus-falls-minnesota","tag-highway-59-crash","tag-jacob-lee-thatcher","tag-minnesota-state-patrol","tag-otter-tail-county-crash","tag-pelican-rapids-minnesota","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51550,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49183\/revisions\/51550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}