Mother, newborn not injured in I-90 crash Monday afternoon

MOUNT VERNON — A Chamberlain woman and her five-day-old son escaped injury when the vehicle the woman was driving rolled Monday afternoon on Interstate 90.

Highway Patrol Trooper Mark Nelson said Laura VanRooyen was driving about 65 mph westbound on I-90 at approximately 3:20 p.m. when she hit a slick spot and rolled her 1993 Ford Explorer, which landed in the median about a mile east of Mount Vernon.

VanRooyen wasn’t hurt and neither was the infant, which was in a child-restraint seat, Nelson said.

“Didn’t even wake up,” he said of the baby.

VanRooyen was cited for not having proof of insurance. Her vehicle was towed to Mount Vernon and the trooper gave the mother and child a ride to Mount Vernon, where her boyfriend, a Chamberlain resident, picked them up.

It was the first of two rollovers involving 20-year-old female drivers that Nelson handled Monday afternoon.

At about 4:30 p.m., an eastbound vehicle also came across some black ice and went into the ditch near the White Lake rest stop east of the town.

The driver, a Wahoo, Neb., woman, was not cited.

She told Nelson she was going about 70 mph when the vehicle in front of her swerved on the ice. The driver, who was using cruise control, tapped her brakes, and that caused her vehicle to roll over and land in the ditch, according to the trooper.

The woman suffered a cut finger caused when the driver’s side window shattered, Nelson said. A 21-year-old man who was a passenger in the vehicle was not injured.

An ambulance was called but neither person was transported, Nelson said. Their vehicle was towed to White Lake but appeared to be drivable after repairs were made, according to the trooper.

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