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Date: 
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
A 71-year-old pilot was critically hurt when a crop-dusting helicopter crashed onto the roof of a barn in central Minnesota. Morrison County sheriff's authorities got a report of the crash north of Little Falls just after 10 a.m. Wednesday. When deputies, firefighters and emergency crews arrived they could see the pilot in the helicopter but couldn't get to him immediately. That's because the helicopter had crashed through the barn roof but not through the ceiling. Firefighters eventually were able to remove the pilot using a ladder truck.
Date: 
Thursday, May 1, 2014

A 5-year-old boy has died after a farm accident in Becker County.

The sheriff's office says the boy apparently had tried to get into a skid steer by crawling between the bucket and frame. Authorities say the machine was not running but was under hydraulic pressure. When the boy grabbed the control level to pull himself up, that released the hydraulic pressure, pinning him between the hydraulic rams and the frame of the skid steer.

The accident was reported around 6 p.m. Thursday south of Wolf Lake.

Date: 
Wednesday, March 5, 2014

A longtime criminal on the run for months from charges that he sexually abused a young girl in central Minnesota for many years was caught after crashing his vehicle in a ditch, authorities said.

Brian S. Schmitz, 43, of Willmar, Minn., was apprehended Wednesday about 9:15 a.m., more than four hours after a Kandiyohi County sheriff’s deputy spotted a vehicle in a ditch off a private drive about 7 miles north of Willmar, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Date: 
Sunday, February 16, 2014
A 30-year-old snowmobiler died after colliding with a train in Brainerd. The crash occurred around 1:30 p.m. Sunday on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Line underpass. According to Brainerd Police, Michael Flannigan of Brainerd approached the tracks and attempted to pass in front of an empty coal train. Train operators said they sounded the train horn, but the snowmobile continued and was broadsided by the train. Flannigan died at the scene of the crash. Police say he was wearing a helmet. The crash remains under investigation.