WHITE RIVER, S.D. – Authorities have identified the woman who died following a vehicle-pedestrian crash in White River last week.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 23-year-old Nikki Thin Elk of Rapid City was walking south in the middle of U.S. Highway 83 on the evening of September 23 when she was struck by a southbound pickup truck pulling a flatbed trailer.
Investigators say the driver, 37-year-old Julio Ernesto Alonso Torres of Grand Island, Nebraska, attempted to brake and swerve after seeing Thin Elk in the roadway, but was unable to avoid the collision.
Thin Elk was transported to a hospital in Rosebud, where she died from her injuries the following day. Torres was not injured.
The South Dakota Highway Patrol says the crash remains under investigation.
