Lake Elmo crash: Family mourns 5-year-old victim

LAKE ELMO, Minn. (FOX 9) - An east metro family is grieving after a weekend tragedy on the roadways.

A 5-year-old girl, Morgan Petersen was killed when the car she was riding in, stalled in traffic, and then was struck from behind on Highway 36 in Lake Elmo.

"She just loved her daddy-daughter time," Morgan’s father, Chris Petersen told FOX 9. "Whenever it was time for her to come home, I would be like, ‘your mom is coming to get you.’ She would be like, all right, ‘come upstairs and let me get some daddy-daughter snuggles before I go.’ I just loved her so much. And she had such a bright future ahead of her."

Petersen said he and his daughter had a special bond and he does not know how he will go on without her.

"She was always happy. She was a great little girl. She was the light of my life. Every day she woke up and she wanted to do something nice and listen to music videos and dance," he says. "That was her first thing she wanted to do when she woke up in the morning. And then she wanted me to make her waffles. That was our father-daughter thing. We would make waffles, sit down, eat breakfast together, and we would go out to the park."

Tragically, Morgan was killed Saturday night under freak-circumstance in a crash that was captured in part on MNDOT traffic cameras. 

The Petersen’s Ford Focus stalled in the left lane of eastbound traffic, but Chris has no memory of what happened. He says it would be highly unlikely that he ran out of gas.

But a driver of a Nissan Pathfinder slammed into the car, sending the Petersen vehicle spinning. Morgan was strapped in, in the back passenger seat and was killed as a result. Her 10-year old brother who was sitting up front survived with just bumps and bruises.

Petersen reports he suffered a traumatic brain injury among other injuries, but was adamant that nothing compares to the hurt of losing his precious child.

"She was the light of my life," he said. "She was such a big-hearted, caring little girl. And it was just a natural thing to her. She just really cared about other people so much more than you know. Especially in today's world where it seems like many people are cold and they are only concerned about themselves. She just cared about how others were doing."

Morgan’s grandmother Sandy Atchison added, "We will never have another birthday with her here with us. It is very hard. I will miss her every day. It is so senseless."

The state patrol is not commenting on any aspect of the crash, including speeds and potential impairment, only telling FOX 9, everything remains under investigation.

Morgan’s loved ones have launched a GoFundMe site to help raise money for funeral expenses and other needs following the deadly crash.