By Patrick Tepoorten

A fatal single car roll-over accident at the intersection of County Road 30 and 415th Street in North Branch left local law enforcement with more questions than answers.

The roll-over, 1:22 a.m. Sunday, was actually witnessed by North Branch officer Rick Sapp who was conducting routine traffic enforcement at the time. He witnessed the car go out of control and leave the paved surface, where it rolled over, ejecting both occupants.

Because of the darkness, Sapp was unable to determine who was ejected from which seat. One of those occupants, Shauna Lee Chute, 25, of Norwood Young America, was transported to Fairview Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. Her identity though, was not verified until Tuesday morning.

The other occupant, Daniel Ellis Nybeck, 23, of North Branch, was transported by air to Hennepin County Medical Center. Upon waking from a coma on Monday, he stated that he was not the driver of the car at the time of the accident.

At least one witness thought they saw the car in the parking lot of a local bar, with Nybeck in the driverâs seat.

According to North Branch Police Chief Steve Forner, witness testimony in this case may become very important, as the State Patrol Reconstructionist has been unable to determine who was ejected from which seat based on evidence at the crash site.

If anyone has information pertinent to this investigation, call (651) 674-8848.

Comment from Christina Clark, 11/30/06

Shauna was a very good friend of mine and she was very special but also why it is so important to find out who was driving was because Shauna was engaged to her fiance, Derrick, and she was pregnant with twins by him and she also had two little boys at home. This is a very sad and horrendous time for us all.

Comment from Larry Thompson, 12/14/06

As the father of Shauna's oldest son I feel its extremely important for people not to post information that they themselves are misinformed about. People should only post things that they know to be true. And at this time there are just to many questions and not enough answers.