Three Die in Early Morning Crash

Three people from Minnesota were killed Thursday morning in a single vehicle crash on the east edge of Mount Pleasant.  Just before 6:30  emergency responders were called to the railroad tracks below Hwy 218 at milemarker 43. According to the Iowa State Patrol a vehicle driven by Chester Simmons of Minneapolis was southbound on Hwy 218.  The vehicle left the road, entered the median and became airborne before hitting a bridge pillar and coming to rest on its’ top on the railroad tracks below the highway.  The driver and two passengers, Robert Frost and Johnatta Cook, all of Minneapolis died in the crash.  Two others, Yolanda Smith of Brooklynn Center, Minnesota and Leo Simmons, of Minneapolis were transported to University Hospitals in Iowa City.