Four Minnesota State Police Patrol squad cars hit since Thursday

St. PAUL — Four squad cars were hit while state troopers were out responding to about 850 accidents across the state from Thursday to Friday.

The number of crashes was four times the volume Minnesota saw over the same time span last winter, according to Lt. Tiffani Nielson, spokeswoman for the Minnesota State Patrol.

The biggest reason for the accidents other than snowy and icy conditions: driver conduct.

“When drivers are handling their vehicles too fast for the conditions ... not allowing sufficient following distances, not scanning their eyes to the horizon, that’s why we’re seeing these vehicles going off the road, property damage, personal injury crashes and troopers getting hit,” Nielson said.

All of the accidents involving squad cars were avoidable, Nielson said. Two occurred in the Twin Cities area in Brooklyn Center and Eagan. The others were in Virginia and Marshall.

In two of the accidents, officers were outside their squads responding to other accidents when their vehicles were struck.

In the other two accidents, officers were inside their squads.

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