Two separate car accidents—both deadly—happened within just 30 minutes of each other Wednesday morning in Poweshiek County, leaving two men dead and one woman injured.
The first crash happened around 7:15 a.m. on Interstate 80 eastbound. A semi-truck hauling an oversized load had a tire blowout, forcing the driver, 76-year-old Gerald Mayfield of Onalaska, Texas, to pull over onto the shoulder. Behind him, a pilot vehicle—essentially an escort truck—driven by 60-year-old Brenton Fregia of Troutman, North Carolina, parked to assist.
Fregia got out to help with the flat tire, but tragically, a second semi-truck came along and crashed into the parked vehicles. Fregia was outside when it happened and didn’t survive the impact. A passenger in the semi, 48-year-old Christina Leeth, also from Onalaska, was hurt and taken to the hospital in Grinnell. Her condition hasn’t been released.
Then, less than half an hour later—around 7:40 a.m.—another deadly crash happened about 20 miles away on Highway V18, just north of 460th Avenue.
In that crash, 70-year-old James Jacobi of Belle Plaine was driving south when a car coming the other way—a Hyundai Sonata driven by 37-year-old Joshua Klein of Brooklyn, Iowa—crossed the center line. Jacobi tried to move onto the shoulder to avoid a collision, but the other car kept coming. The two vehicles collided, hitting driver’s side to driver’s side, and both ended up in a ditch.
Jacobi died at the scene. He was later taken to Holland-Coble Funeral Home in Montezuma. No other injuries were reported in that crash.
Authorities are investigating both accidents.
