By William Morris

Owatonna People’s Press

OWATONNA — A 16-year-old Owatonna girl suffered serious injuries Thursday afternoon when the motorcycle on which she was a passenger was involved in a crash with a semi truck on Highway 14, just east of Owatonna.

The name of the girl has not been released, though the Minnesota State Patrol has reported that she was transported to Mayo Clinic in Rochester with serious injuries.

The driver of the motorcycle, 48-year-old Chad Hein of Blooming Prairie, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Owatonna Hospital. The driver of the semi, Burton Hill, 64, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, had no apparent injuries, according to the patrol report.

The accident occurred at about 3:20 p.m. Thursday when both the motorcycle, a 2004 Harley Davidson, and the semi, a 2013 Freightliner, were approaching slower traffic as they were both headed east. In order to avoid contact with the Freightliner, Hein laid the Harley down on the highway, the patrol reports.

Neither Hein nor the girl was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, according to the patrol.

The state patrol and Owatonna Fire Department responded and blocked off the eastbound lanes of the highway at SE 44th Avenue. Several Gold Cross ambulances responded to the scene, along with a Mayo Clinic helicopter.