A 50-year-old Brainerd woman died and another woman was injured at 8:43 a.m. Monday in a two-vehicle traffic accident at the intersection of Five Mile and Thompson roads, southeast of Brainerd.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl identified the victim as Roxanne M. Swanberg, age 50, of Brainerd. He said his thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the victim.
Swanberg, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was driving a Town and Country Chrysler minivan that was involved in a collision with a Dodge pick-up truck driven by Chelsey Lea Hettver, 19, of rural Brainerd. Hettver was discharged after being taken to Essentia Health St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd.
The intersection of the two dirt roads is 2 1/2 miles south of Highway 18 near Bethel Lutheran Church in Long Lake Township. The cause of the crash is being investigated by the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the State Patrol. Also assisting at the scene were the Brainerd Fire Department and North Memorial Ambulance.
Comments (14)
Add commentRIP
Take care Mike. May God be with you during this difficult time.
Thoughts and Prayers
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike and his family in this very difficult time.
Denton
This video has no business in your paper. Please take it down. The mini van shown is the last place this woman was alive. Why do you need to advertise it?? Poor taste dispatch!
I understand puting the story
I understand puting the story online asap to report the news, but i do not understand the need for pictures much less the video. I think it is just poor tast to be out there filming a video of someones death. Mr O'Rourke, you should be ashamed of your actions. I am sure the family and friends of the victims recognised the cars in the pictures and videos. You know what they say about karma... I hope one day you dont have some heartless reporter with no reguard for you, filming your family tragities! As far as i am concerned you owe the Swanberg family a huge apoligy and should remove the video!
We wish too express our
We wish too express our deepest sympathies to the Swanberg family during this most difficult time. Roxanne will always be remembered as the fun-loving, caring and considerate person she was. She will be missed but not forgotten. God Bless. Kim and Doug.
Brainerd Dispatch: Please
Brainerd Dispatch: Please comment on the newsworthiness of posting a video of the scene of a fatal car crash. Brainerd is a small community and I would believe this type of "tabloid journalism" will not be appreciated by many of your subscribers/site viewers. There may be a time when it would be productive to show a video of first responders performing their work at the scene of a death of one of our residents. I do not believe it to be less than 24 hours after the accident. Please show some compassion for all the family members involved and remove the video until such time it may become relevent. You always have the option of making it available to the families of those affected if they ever so chose. Thank you.
video
I am so sad for Ms. Swanberg's family and friends that this video was posted on your website, and not even an hour after this accident happened.
Sorry Dispatch, you will never see a dime out of me for anything in the future. This was the most tasteless act you could do. Take it down already.
Re: video
williejoy, your statement is incorrect.
The video was posted nearly four (4) hours after the accident occurred.
Our comments from an updated version of this story:
First of all, we are sorry for the family's loss. At least two of our staff members knew the deceased also.
We did wait until law enforcement had notified immediate family before putting any photos online.
The video was not put online until 4 hours after the accident had taken place.
The video and the photos published give further context to the story - displaying to the reader a physical representation of the scene.
The choice to watch the video is up to the individual.
helicopter crash in NYC
I am watching live video of a person getting CPR in the helicopter crash in NYC. This video is not like that at all. I don't have a problem with it as long as the family had been informed.
Video
I understand the feelings about the video and not wanting to see an accident site, especially with a death occurring as my mom was killed in a car crash as well, but what is the difference between this and a TV crew showing up and showing the footage on live TV? Don't watch the video if you don't like it, I didn't watch it until I saw all the backlash, figuring there must be something horrible in the video, which I didn't find.
It's the Dispatch's fault for posting it, but so many of you have turned the focus of the accident on this video, rather than the fact that somebody lost their life.
Dispatch needs ethical guidelines
My heart goes out to the families and all affected by this tragedy; you are all in my prayers. Words cannot how devastated so many in our community are by Roxanne's death.
First, I am surprised by the comments of a Dispatch employee; not to mention the "professional" photo and "production" credits (do you honestly want to "claim" that video?). The whole tone of your comment (and comments on other articles) is out of line. Also, it's really not important to state that other Dispatch employees knew the victim; it sounds petty. In all the comment is highly unprofessional.
Second, the pictures and video are supposed to provide "context", but they do not. The photo is decent, but not great and the video is poor quality and poor taste; at least to a former photojournalist of 5 years. Teach photo basics to your reports and you won't have a need for video on your website. If you want video...teach video too. There are classes out there.
Third, to the person who said they were watching a video of the helicopter crash: that live video (and yes I have since seen it on a WCCO broadcast and was shocked to see it), this is an "edited" video where the first responders have to shield their work from the cameraman. What's more important...having first responders leave their work because they need to shield their work from a videographer or The Dispatch getting a video for their website?
It does not matter when the person died or when the family was notified, you are trying to gain website traffic from a video of someone's death. The Dispatch needs to have ethical guidelines about when to publish a video and when they should not. I will be sure to bring this up at the next advisory board meeting. This video, in the view of a few of your readers has crossed the ethical line.
tonybear73
We appreciate your comments on this subject, as well as those of the other commenters.
I have forwarded your above comments to the Editor, Roy Miller, and he would appreciate (if you are a member of our Advisory Board) that you call him directly and voice your concerns to him.
Thoughts and Prayers
My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved. This has been a very bad year for fatal accidents.