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GROTON, S.D. — A North Carolina woman has been identified as the person who died after striking a deer and driving into a slough last week in northeastern South Dakota.
Shortly before 1:15 a.m. on July 11, authorities in Brown County were called to mile marker 314 of U.S. Highway 12, approximately five miles east of Groton, for a report of a one-vehicle crash.
Preliminary crash information released by the South Dakota Highway Patrol indicates that a 2017 Toyota Camry was eastbound on U.S. 12 when it struck a deer. The vehicle drove through the median, across the westbound lanes, entered a ditch and went into a slough.
Melissa Sweeney, 50, Fayetteville, North Carolina, was airlifted to an Aberdeen hospital for treatment of her injuries before being airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital, where she died one day after the crash.
Sweeney was the vehicle's only occupant, and her seat belt use remains under investigation.
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The South Dakota Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash.
