2 Cass County snowmobile crashes result in fatality, serious injury

By Dispatch staff report

February 05, 2023 at 4:56 PM

WALKER — Two snowmobile crashes Saturday, Feb. 4, in Cass County resulted in a fatality and a serious injury.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reported a 65-year-old Staples man died after the track on the 2007 Yamaha snowmobile he rode became dislodged, causing the machine to crash and man to be ejected.

The sheriff’s office received a 911 call reporting the crash at 4:55 p.m. Saturday on 72nd Street Southwest in Byron Township near Staples. Deputies and responders arrived on the scene and found family and bystanders performing CPR on the victim. Deputies and emergency medical services personnel immediately continued medical aid, the sheriff’s office reported, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The operator was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. An autopsy was scheduled with the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office and the incident remained under investigation. Assisting at the scene were Motley Fire & Rescue, Staples Ambulance and North Memorial Health Air Care.

Earlier Saturday, a snowmobile crash in Homebook Township near Nisswa resulted in serious injuries.

The sheriff’s office received a 911 call at 11:39 a.m. reporting the crash on the Snoflea Snowmobile Trail. Deputies and first responders arrived near the scene and used tracked rescue vehicles to access the area.

Deputies learned a 49-year-old Coon Rapids woman was operating a 2020 Polaris Indy rental snowmobile with a 15-year-old Coon Rapids boy as the rear passenger. The snowmobile left the trail on a curve and struck a tree, causing the rider and passenger to be ejected from the machine.

The boy was transported via helicopter to CentraCare-St. Cloud Hospital with serious injuries and the woman was transported to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd with unknown injuries. Both wore helmets at the time of the crash.

Assisting at the scene were Pillager Fire & Rescue, North Memorial Health Ambulance and Air Care.

By Dispatch staff report

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of "staff." Often, the "staff" byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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2 Cass County snowmobile crashes result in fatality, serious injury

The sheriff’s office received a 911 call reporting the fatal crash at 4:55 p.m. Saturday on 72nd Street Southwest in Byron Township near Staples.