Highway Patrol sees surge in Fargo crash investigations

FARGO — Travis Nelson hasn't seen anything like this. Nelson is the longtime leader of the North Dakota Highway Patrol's Accident Reconstruction team. He's referring to the string of deadly and serious crashes in the Fargo area over the past two months. Since July 30, the Highway Patrol's crash reconstruction team has investigated eight crashes in the Fargo area, four of them have happened on University Drive South. Five people have been killed in those four crashes. Three of those crashes involved a driver speeding away from police. "A lot of the same driving behavior, I haven't seen anything like that so focused in one area since I have been overseeing the team since 2018," Nelson said. The North Dakota Highway Patrol Reconstruction team is called out whenever someone is killed or seriously hurt in a crash, or if criminal charges could result from the incident. A reconstruction technician will gather data and evidence from the scene and spend the next two or