The Free Press, Mankato, MN - Tragedy has few answers

Wed, Nov 25 2009

Corrections | Police Logs | NIE | Special Sections |

Resources

Print this story

Post to del.icio.us

Photos

Catherine Delwiche was killed Tuesday when she and a cross country teammate were struck by an SUV near MSU.
The Free Press

After a runner dropped one bouquet of flowers Wednesday, more followed at the scene where Minnesota State University freshman Catherine Delwiche of Glencoe was killed Tuesday afternoon.
John Cross / The Free Press

After describing the scene of Tuesday’s deadly crash on Warren Street, Lt. Dan Hilligoss said Wednesday it will be four to six weeks before the State Patrol investigation is completed.
John Cross / The Free Press

The Free Press

Tragedy has few answers

Runner’s death touches many

By Dan Nienaber
The Free Press

There was no evidence Hoechst attempted to stop before the collision, Hilligoss said. There also were no signs he had been drinking or obvious indicators suggesting there might be a medical problem. Hoechst provided a statement to police and volunteered to give a blood sample.

Investigators don’t know, at this point, if he had somehow been distracted.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of answers for you right now,” Hilligoss said. “It’s a tragedy. Someone is not here today who was here yesterday. Someone who had a bright future.”

Joe Hoehn lives four blocks from the crash scene and serves as the treasurer at the church. He also knows Hoechst — they bowled together on a traveling team last year — and was surprised to see him sitting in the Honda when he ran over to the church after the crash.

The church sign had crashed through Hoechst’s windshield, the vehicle’s air bag had inflated and Hoechst still looked disoriented several minutes after the crash, Hoehn said.

“He was sitting there so dazed he couldn’t open the door,” Hoehn said.

Hoehn mowed the church lawn Wednesday morning, so the telling tire tracks were almost gone. Only the slightly bent church sign, the yellow paint and the people adding to the growing memorial provided clues that something tragic had happened.

Thomas was running before he dropped that first bouquet, but he just walked down Warren Street to his house at the bottom of the hill.

“It didn’t feel right running away,” he said. “It did feel right running there, though.”

<< Previous |