Victims of fatal crashes in Hamlin, Brookings counties identified

November 21, 2022
Mike Tanner

ESTELLINE, S.D.–The South Dakota Highway Patrol has identified two people killed in separate crashes in Hamlin and Brookings counties last week.

Forty one year-old Gabriel Hernandez of Castlewood was killed last Monday morning when the pickup he was driving left 465th Avenue on the northern edge of Estelline and rolled.

Hernandez was buckled up, but died of injuries sustained in the crash.

He was the only occupant of the pickup.

Forty year-old Kelley Rodriguez of Lincoln, Nebraska was killed last Wednesday morning in a crash on Interstate 29, one mile south of Brookings.

Rodriguez was in a vehicle that was rear-ended by a truck.

Rodriguez died at the scene. The truck driver, 39 year-old James Vaniperen of Davis, South Dakota, sustained serious injuries.