Driver hurt in early rollover crash on I-94 near Dalton

Westbound Interstate 94 near mile marker 67 outside Dalton rolled a Subaru into the median just after 6 a.m. Sunday, injuring driver Gabriel Hilbrands, 22, of Alexandria and sending him to Lake Region Hospital in Fergus Falls with non-life-threatening injuries. He was the only person in the SUV, and Minnesota State Patrol records listed the crash in District 2900 at 6:07 a.m.

Troopers said the Subaru was traveling westbound when it lost control and rolled, a kind of single-vehicle crash that can happen quickly on high-speed interstate pavement. The State Patrol listed suspicion of alcohol as pending, meaning investigators were still reviewing the circumstances and had not made a final determination about what caused the rollover.

For Otter Tail County commuters, the crash lands on a stretch of I-94 already under construction pressure. Minnesota Department of Transportation says westbound traffic between Highway 79 near Evansville and the Grant/Otter Tail county line has had lane closures since May 11 as part of a westbound concrete resurfacing project. Once resurfacing begins in June, westbound traffic is slated to be shifted onto the eastbound lanes for one-lane head-to-head travel through the project area until October.

The project carries an $18.8 million price tag, with Central Specialties, Inc. listed as the prime contractor. That means drivers headed through the Dalton corridor are already facing a changing traffic pattern before summer travel hits its peak, and any crash on the route can add delays, slowdown risk and extra strain for responders moving quickly to the scene.

Hilbrands was taken to Lake Region Healthcare’s Fergus Falls emergency department, which is always open and is designated by the Minnesota State Trauma System as a level 3 trauma center. For wrecks on this part of the interstate, Fergus Falls is often the closest hospital capable of handling serious but survivable injuries.

The Dalton rollover also fits a wider safety pattern across west-central Minnesota. The Minnesota State Patrol’s current incident feed showed another recent westbound I-94 loss-of-control crash at milepost 196, and Otter Tail County’s 2021-2025 fatal-and-serious-injury crash map, tracked through Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths, shows local safety officials have been watching high-severity crashes closely. Statewide, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety reported 129 traffic deaths in 2026 through June 5, compared with 137 at the same point in 2025.