Lower Brule Sioux Tribe mourns loss of five people in accident

Thursday, August 4, 2011  

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of South Dakota is mourning the deaths of five people who died in an accident on a washed out road, the second incident of its kind in two months.

Gabriella D. Laroche, 18; Alvina J. Johnson, 32; Jessie Hawk Wing, 35; and Deja Sazue, 10, were Lower Brule tribal members who died on Tuesday afternoon in two-vehicle accident. Truman R. Armell, 33, who was a member of the Winnebago Tribe in Nebraska, also died.

Tessa J. Crane, 18; Caleb D. Mills, 22, and two other juveniles survived but were injured. One tribal leader blames the crash on the unrepaired road where two other tribal members died in June.

"We look at this as a continuing result of that not being repaired. And had that road been repaired, these people wouldn't have been on that side road. They would’ve been on the paved road and this probably wouldn't have happened," Orville Langdeau told KELO-TV.

Get the Story:
Lower Brule Community Grieves Loss Again (KELO-TV 8/3)
Names released in two-vehicle fatal crash near Reliance (The Aberdeen American News 8/3)