69-year-old man seriously injured after he loses control of his ATV near M-40 and is ejected from the vehicle in Bloomington Township, Michigan

A man was airlifted to the hospital Monday morning after he fell off an ATV and hit his head, according to the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department. It happened just before 10 a.m. Monday in a cornfield near the 12000 block of M-40 in Bloomingdale Township, northwest of Paw Paw. The victim, a 69-year-old man from the Gobles area, was riding a Yamaha Banshee ATV when his hat started to fall off, a friend of the victim, who was also riding an ATV at the time of the wreck, told the sheriff’s department. As he tried to grab his hat, the victim accidentally hit the throttle on his ATV, the friend reported. The victim then lost control of the ATV – which went onto two wheels – and fell to the ground, hitting his head, the sheriff’s department said. The deputy that was called to the scene found the victim bleeding from the head, unconscious and not breathing, according to the sheriff’s department. The deputy started CPR until emergency crews arrived, and the victim was taken to an area hospital before being airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo.