
BROOKINGS COUNTY, S.D. — Authorities have released the names of those involved in a four-vehicle crash Thursday that killed a Brookings man.
The crash occurred at 5:56 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, on Interstate 29 at mile marker 140, about 7 miles north of Brookings.
Ashley Leigh Harbin, 38, of Toronto, was driving a 2018 Subaru Forester southbound on Interstate 29 in the northbound lanes. At the same time, Daten Briar Odom, 19, of Brookings, was traveling northbound in the northbound lanes, according to preliminary crash information. Each in separate vehicles, Devon Halpate, 34, of Newark, Ohio, and Efrain Ramirez Martinez, 25, of Brookings, were also traveling northbound.
Harbin struck Odom's 2011 GMC Sierra, causing the Subaru to come to a stop in the roadway. The GMC rotated and struck Halpate's 2024 Ford F-350. Martinez, driving a 2020 Chevrolet Trax, then struck the stopped Subaru.
Odom was wearing a seat belt and sustained fatal injuries. Harbin was life flighted to a Sioux Falls hospital with life-threatening injuries. Her seat belt use remains under investigation.
Halpate and his passenger, Benjamin Stang, 21, of Clear Lake, Minnesota, were not injured. Martinez was also not injured. Halpate, Stang and Martinez were wearing seat belts.
Information is preliminary. The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
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