Crash involving farm tractor shuts down U.S. Highway 12 in Brown County

March 5, 2020
Mike Tanner

BATH, S.D.–The westbound lanes of U.S. Highway 12 in Brown County were closed for about five hours Tuesday afternoon and evening following a crash between a farm tractor and a semi.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol says the accident was reported at 4:43 p.m. Tuesday, two miles east of Bath.

The John Deere tractor and Freightliner semi were both westbound in the right lane. The tractor was attempting to make a right hand turn onto 397th Avenue. The semi driver, which was behind the tractor, applied his brakes, went into a skid, and rear-ended the tractor.

The semi driver, 56 year-old Charles Mulkey of Chatsworth, Georgia, sustained life-threatening injuries. He was airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital.

The driver of the tractor, 75 year-old Dennis Jones of Bath, had serious non life-threatening injuries.