{"id":6374,"date":"2026-01-03T07:15:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=6374"},"modified":"2026-01-03T07:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T13:15:53","slug":"grand-forks-i-29-backup-after-driver-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/grand-forks-i-29-backup-after-driver-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Forks: I-29 Backup After Driver Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grand Forks, ND (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a><\/strong> \u2014 A major traffic backup formed on Interstate 29 Friday evening in the Grand Forks area.<\/p>\n

TRF News received video at about 6:32 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

The video showed several emergency vehicles on the scene.<\/p>\n

It appeared to be a single vehicle stuck in the median.<\/p>\n

The location was reported as I-29 near 32nd Avenue North.<\/p>\n

Traffic slowed and backed up for drivers in both directions.<\/p>\n

Update from the Highway Patrol<\/h2>\n

The North Dakota Highway Patrol later released details about the incident.<\/p>\n

NDHP said dispatch received a 911 call at 5:39 p.m. on January 2.<\/p>\n

The call reported an erratic driver in Grand Forks County.<\/p>\n

NDHP said a trooper located the vehicle near mile marker 138 on I-29.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the vehicle stopped before the trooper activated emergency lights.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the trooper asked the driver to exit the vehicle.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the driver refused and fled in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the pursuit lasted about one mile.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the vehicle became stuck in the median.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

NDHP described the death as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.<\/p>\n

NDHP said I-29 was shut down at 6:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

NDHP said one lane reopened at 6:20 p.m.<\/p>\n

NDHP said no law enforcement officers fired their weapons.<\/p>\n

NDHP said the North Dakota BCI is assisting in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Those details were also reported by the Grand Forks Herald and Valley News Live.<\/p>\n

See coverage from the Grand Forks Herald<\/a> and Valley News Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another report is posted by KVRR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Grand
Grand Forks: I-29 Backup After Driver Death<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What we saw and heard at the scene<\/h2>\n

TRF News also monitored radio traffic during the response.<\/p>\n

Scanner traffic can be early and incomplete.<\/p>\n

Radio traffic suggested officers tried to contact the driver.<\/p>\n

Radio traffic also mentioned the use of a drone.<\/p>\n

TRF News will rely on confirmed updates from officials.<\/p>\n

Traffic and travel info<\/h2>\n

Drivers can check road conditions and closures at North Dakota 511<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TRF News has reached out to law enforcement for more details.<\/p>\n

We will update this story when new information is confirmed.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know needs help<\/h2>\n

If you are struggling, help is available now.<\/p>\n

Call or text 988<\/a>, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grand Forks, ND (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A major traffic backup formed on Interstate 29 Friday evening in the Grand Forks area. TRF News received video at about 6:32 p.m. Friday. The video showed several emergency vehicles on the scene. It appeared to be a single vehicle stuck in the median. The location was reported as I-29… Continue reading Grand Forks: I-29 Backup After Driver Death<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6387,"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":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_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":[7050,7053,346,7037,1848,3331,7054,772,1994,943,820,457,1480,1123,1490,2278,1989,2515,2238,382,7042,7044,7056,682,4397,1479,7036,7055,7052],"class_list":["post-6374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-32nd-avenue-north","tag-988-lifeline","tag-after","tag-backup","tag-breaking","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-major","tag-crime","tag-death","tag-driver","tag-forks","tag-grand","tag-grand-forks","tag-grand-forks-county","tag-grand-forks-police","tag-grand-forks-sheriff","tag-i-29","tag-i29","tag-incident","tag-major","tag-mile-marker-138","tag-ndbci","tag-ndhp-press-release","tag-news","tag-north-dakota-511","tag-north-dakota-highway-patrol","tag-temporary","tag-temporary-backup-following-i-29-gf-incident","tag-traffic-backup","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374","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=6374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6389,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6374\/revisions\/6389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}