Names have been released of the five people who died early Wednesday morning in a two-vehicle crash east of Yankton.
A Yankton city police officer was attempting to stop a 1996 Acura Integra which was traveling east on South Dakota Highway 50. The Integra shut off its headlights and crossed onto the westbound lanes where it collided with a westbound 2010 Nissan Sentra
Two Sioux Falls men were in the Acura Integra. Both the driver, 29-year-old Michael Worlie, and the passenger, Joshua Odens, 27, were pronounced dead at the scene. Neither were wearing seatbelts.
Three of the four occupants of the Nissan Sentra also died in the crash. They were the driver, 40-year-old Tawna Lichty-Reineke, and two passengers — Chad Reineke, 43, and Janicka Luschen, 10. All are from Yankton.
The fourth occupant, a 12-year-old female, was airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital where she remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. She is also from Yankton.
All four occupants of the Sentra were wearing seatbelts.
South Dakota’s Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
