City faces second fatality in three days

    HARLAN - At approximately 6:20 p.m. Harlan Police Department, Medivac, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Harlan Fire Department were dispatched to 9th and Chatburn Ave for an accident involving a car and a motorcycle on Thursday, June 27.
    When Officer’s arrived, they attempted to aid the motorcyclist, Scott Alan Petersen, 55, Harlan, until Medivac arrived and determined he had died at the scene. Petersen was driving his motorcycle westbound on Chatburn Ave./Highway 44 when Riley Jean Kay, 24, attempted to turn east on Chatburn Ave. from 9th St.
    Ms. Kay’s view may have been obstructed by a vehicle in the northern most lane travelling west, slightly ahead of Petersen. An Iowa State Patrol Traffic Investigator was called in to oversee the investigation.  Chatburn Ave. between 8th St and 12th St was closed off for approximately two hours during the investigation.
    On Tuesday, June 25, a 911 call reported a rollover accident on Nishna Avenue east of Harlan at approximately 4 p.m. with a trapped individual and possible agricultural-related chemical spill.

Responding units located a 1994 International semi, which for unknown reasons left the roadway and rolled into the south ditch. The driver, 71-year-old Dale Hemminger, Harlan, had to be extricated from the vehicle using mechanical means. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was assisted on scene by the Harlan Police Department, Harlan Fire Department, Medivac Ambulance, Kirkman Fire Department, Westphalia Fire Department, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Department of Motor Vehicle Enforcement, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.