Crash

probe

continues

Accident claimed

teen's life

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM-- State troopers continue to investigate the crash that killed a 14-year old New Ulm boy last week.

The boy, Eric James Mellingen, was killed driving his father's car in a head-on collision with a grain truck on State Highway 68 near the line between Brown and Blue Earth counties at 7:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 18.

State Patrol Lt. Scott McConkey said much of the crash is still under investigation.

The State Patrol had earlier reported that the boy's father, Kevin Mellingen, sent his son on an errand to New Ulm on the day the crash happened. However, Kevin Mellingen said he did not know his son would be driving his car and said he thought his son was only going to be a passenger in the car, which a friend of his son's had permission to drive.

Eric Mellingen did not have an instruction permit or a driver's license at the time of the crash.

Kevin Mellingen declined to comment Wednesday evening, except to say, "I am still grieving and trying to take care of myself."

The crash happened as Mellingen's Buick crossed the center line into the opposite lane of traffic, where it met the grain truck head-on. McConkey said investigators still do not know why there were no skid marks on the pavement from braking.

"In any scene, we look at the brake marks," he said. "But since there weren't any, we can't give an indication of what the driver did before the crash."

He said accident reconstruction, which tries to determine how a crash happened based upon evidence collected at the scene, is close to being finished and troopers are still conducting interviews for the investigation.

Although 185 children under age 14 and younger were drivers in traffic crashes in 2002, none were involved in fatal crashes, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

"It's not an everyday occurrence but it's a way-too-often occurrence," said McConkey, who has spend 18 years with the State Patrol.

While there is no single stretch of road in the State Patrol's Mankato district that sees more fatal accidents that others, McConkey said fatal accidents are more likely to happen on well-traveled routes like state highways than on roads that are traveled on less frequently.

"I think that what we see a lot it that whenever someone goes over the center line, it can lead to a serious crash," he said. "There are more targets on well-traveled roads."

McConkey said between one and two more months may come before the State Patrol finishes its investigation into Eric Mellingen's death. A report will be sent to the county attorney's office once the investigation is finished, McConkey said.

Brown County Attorney James Olson said he believes another two weeks will pass before any decision is made with regard to the possibility of any criminal charges.