At least 3 dead in car crashes in early snowstorm in Minnesota

— -- Some of Minnesota's roads became a slick, white danger zone with an early snowstorm leading to the deaths of at least three people in car crashes.

One of the people who died was a Good Samaritan who had stopped to check on a driver whose vehicle spun out of control in the snow, according to police in Plymouth, Minnesota. A third car then spun out and hit the Good Samaritan.

Two other people died in accidents in the areas of Duluth and Brainerd, the Minnesota State Patrol reported. Besides the three fatalities, 25 injuries were reported in 217 crashes between midnight and 8:45 p.m. Friday night in the storm, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

There were also 161 vehicle "spinouts," the highway patrol said.

ABC News affiliate WDIO in Duluth reported that the state patrol said one of the people who died was a 44-year-old driver of a semi-truck driver whose vehicle went into the St. Louis River near Scanlon, Minnesota.

A quick-moving storm system in the upper Midwest brought the winter weather, with heavy snow and blizzard-like conditions causing roadways to turn treacherous, ABC News meteorologist Daniel Manzo said. Strong wind gusts of over 50 mph also caused rough waves on Lake Superior, damaging Canal Park in Duluth. Further south in Minneapolis only an inch of snow was reported.