Driver speeds off interstate near Ridgedale, crashes down embankment and dies

A driver sped off the interstate in his car near the Ridgedale shopping center in Minnetonka, crashed and died, officials said.

The wreck occurred about 2:30 a.m. Saturday at I-394 and Ridgedale Drive, police said.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office identified the driver as Ryan Steven Chesness, 39, of Shakopee.

Chesness was heading east on the north frontage road "at a high rate of speed," misjudged a curve in the road, and crashed through a fence and down an embankment, said police spokesman Andrew Wittenborg.

The car came to rest under the freeway overpass near a Ridgedale Drive traffic light, Wittenborg said.

A some point, the car hit an electricity utility box and briefly interrupted power, he said.