{"id":72813,"date":"2026-11-10T09:09:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T15:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=72813"},"modified":"2026-11-10T09:09:56","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T15:09:56","slug":"highway-169-hit-and-run-injures-soudan-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/highway-169-hit-and-run-injures-soudan-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Highway 169 Hit-and-Run Injures Soudan Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MN \u2013 (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 A Soudan woman was injured Monday evening after an unidentified driver sideswiped a pickup on Highway 169 and fled the scene.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Marie Salmela, 69, of Soudan, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the November 9, 2026, collision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The crash occurred around 5:48 p.m. near mile marker 371 on Highway 169 in northeastern Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Authorities reported that the driver responsible for the collision left the scene.<\/p>\n

Unknown Driver Passes in No-Passing Zone<\/h2>\n

According to the Minnesota State Patrol, a 2023 Dodge Ram was traveling northbound on Highway 169.<\/p>\n

The pickup was driven by Gary Martin Salmela, 77, of Soudan.<\/p>\n

Investigators reported that an unidentified vehicle was traveling southbound on the highway.<\/p>\n

The unknown driver attempted to pass another vehicle in an area marked as a no-passing zone.<\/p>\n

During the maneuver, the southbound vehicle sideswiped the northbound Dodge Ram.<\/p>\n

The unknown vehicle continued away from the crash scene.<\/p>\n

Passenger Injured in Collision<\/h2>\n

Kathleen Salmela was riding as a passenger in the Dodge Ram when the collision occurred.<\/p>\n

She suffered injuries classified as non-life-threatening by the Minnesota State Patrol.<\/p>\n

The crash report lists Essentia Health in Virginia as her medical facility.<\/p>\n

Authorities did not provide details about her specific injuries or condition following treatment.<\/p>\n

Gary Salmela was not reported injured in the collision.<\/p>\n

Both occupants were wearing seat belts when the vehicles made contact.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Soudan woman was injured Monday evening after an unidentified driver sideswiped a pickup on Highway 169 and fled the scene.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pickup’s Airbags Deploy<\/h2>\n

The impact caused airbags to deploy inside the Dodge Ram.<\/p>\n

Investigators reported that the roadway was dry at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n

Alcohol was not suspected as a contributing factor for the Dodge’s occupants.<\/p>\n

The State Patrol did not release an estimate of the damage to the pickup.<\/p>\n

Unidentified Vehicle Leaves Scene<\/h2>\n

The vehicle that sideswiped the Dodge Ram was not identified in the initial crash report.<\/p>\n

Authorities did not provide its make, model, color, or license plate information.<\/p>\n

The report lists only the Dodge Ram among the documented vehicles.<\/p>\n

However, the crash description confirms that another vehicle was involved and fled the scene.<\/p>\n

No information about the unidentified driver’s identity or possible charges was included in the report.<\/p>\n

Emergency Agencies Respond<\/h2>\n

The Minnesota State Patrol received assistance from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia Fire Department, and Virginia EMS.<\/p>\n

The State Patrol’s Virginia District handled the crash investigation.<\/p>\n

The incident was documented under case number 26311343.<\/p>\n

Officials last updated the report at 7:43 p.m. Monday, November 9.<\/p>\n

The exact municipality was not identified in the report.<\/p>\n

Additional information is available through the official Minnesota State Patrol crash report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Motorists can also check Minnesota 511<\/a> for highway conditions and traffic alerts.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 69-year-old Soudan woman was injured when an unknown driver passed in a no-passing zone, sideswiped a pickup on Highway 169, and fled the scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72814,"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":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[16],"tags":[31962,1246,7661],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[29494],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-72813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accidents","tag-kathleen-marie-salmela","tag-st-louis-county","tag-traffic-crash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72813","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=72813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72816,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72813\/revisions\/72816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72813"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=72813"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=72813"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=72813"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=72813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}