Driver hits parked camper on northern Minnesota highway, injuring woman who was checking it

Authorities say alcohol was a factor in a crash that severely injured a woman who was out of her vehicle and checking on her camper in northern Minnesota Tuesday morning.

Two people from Bemidji had parked their pickup truck and camper on the south side of Highway 6 in Bigfork Township and got out to check the camper, the Minnesota State Patrol said. Around 9:40 a.m., a driver in a Prius hit the camper, which moved forward and struck the woman, according to the patrol.

She was taken to a hospital in North Dakota with life-threatening injuries, the patrol said.

The Prius driver — a 55-year-old woman from Fifty Lakes, Minnesota — was uninjured, as was the other person checking the camper. The patrol noted the Prius driver may have been drinking before the crash.