Their vehicle was a total loss and three people received minor injuries when the driver drove off the end of the road and into some trees at an intersection of the Highway 10 service road on the west end of Staples.

Todd County sheriff's deputies and Staples police responded to the accident at the T-intersection of 12th Street Northwest and Second Avenue in Staples Township about 12:18 a.m. Sunday.

A 2009 Chevrolet Impala, a rental car with New York license plates, was being driven by Donijor Hodjimetov of Oklee, Mn. He and two passengers, Ganisher Juraev of Raymond and Bekhzod Mukhavadliev all had minor injuries.They were all transported to the Lakewood Health System hospital by Staples Ambulance.

They had been westbound on Second Avenue (service road). The deputy's report stated "... it appeared they were not familiar with the area which was the main contributing factor."

This is at least the second recent accident at that location involving a vehicle going too fast for the intersection and driving into the trees. The road in that area was revised with the Highway 10 construction in 2007.

In other police reports, Staples police report stopping a vehicle traveling over the posted speed limit on Oct. 17. After the stop, the driver, who smelled of alcohol on her breath, was asked to take a field sobriety test. After Kathy Mae Brunko failed that field sobriety test, she was arrested for fourth degree driving while intoxicated and was booked into the Todd County jail.

A complaint of a vehicle driving through the construction area on Airport Road Sunday while men were working on the pipeline maintenance project was received by Staples police. Construction workers stated a southbound white vehicle went through the barricade, into the ditch past the construction workers and then up the ditch and back through the barricade on the other side and continued south. They gave police a description of the driver and passengers. Police searched in the vicinity of the road closure plus the rest of town but were unable to locate any matching vehicles.

A woman was stopped by a Staples officer on Second Avenue because he noticed she was not wearing her seat belt. The officer stated the driver informed him she was wearing her belt the entire time. The officer responded that he had seen her belt was not in place when her vehicle met the squad car and that he had watched her put the belt on as she came to a complete stop as she drove up on the curb. She was cited for seat belt violation.

Damage of up to $700 was reported by the owner of a 2007 Buick Lucerne on Oct. 12. Elmer and Ann Vorgert reported that on August 1 someone had scratched the rear drivers side of their car while it was parked in the 400 block of Third Avenue near the Sacred Heart Church.