Mitchell man involved in crash that killed construction flagger near Wessington

Sep. 23—WESSINGTON, S.D. — A construction zone worker died Tuesday, Sept. 17, from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle crash two miles east of Wessington.

According to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, preliminary crash information indicates Tiburcio Gonzalez Jr., the driver of a 2022 Dodge Ram, was traveling westbound on U.S. Highway 14 near mile marker 319 and entered a construction zone. Sandra Guerra Ceballos, a construction worker — a flagger — was on-scene directing westbound traffic to slow down and stop.

Gonzalez, 27, of Mathis, Texas, had stopped as directed. As Eric James Kunkel, 47, of Mitchell, the driver of a 2023 International MV607, approached from the same direction, he collided with the Dodge, and then struck Ceballos, according to the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

Ceballos, 44, of Eddyville, Nebraska, suffered fatal injuries. The two drivers and a passenger in the 2022 Dodge Ram, Jose Gabriel Mendoza Naba, 32, also of Mathis, Texas, sustained minor injuries and were transported to a nearby hospital.

The crash occurred at approximately 12:55 p.m. on Sept. 17.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.