from news release
A Sartell man was injured after being trapped under an all-terrain vehicle for three hours west of St. Stephen on the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 22, according to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.
The injured man, Bernard Omann, 58, was taken to the hospital.
At about 4:26 p.m. that day, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office received a call of an ATV crash with possible injuries south of the intersection of CR Road 5 and 12th Street SW in Brockway Township. Deputies and first responders were led to the location of the crash in a wooded area.
Omann’s family members told deputies they were unable to contact him, although they were aware he was clearing trails with his four-wheeler on the property where he was later found. So they went out to where Omann was working on trails and found him pinned underneath his Suzuki four-wheeler. They called 911 and were able to get the four-wheeler off Omann. He said he was not able to get his phone out of his pocket due to being pinned underneath the four-wheeler. He estimated he was pinned for about three hours.
When deputies were on scene, they saw a log tied to the back of Omann’s Suzuki four-wheeler. The area in which he was pinned was on an uphill slope that was rather slippery due to the recent weather. While pulling the log up the hill with the four-wheeler, it started to slide sideways and its weight tipped the vehicle over backward, pinning Omann underneath.
Omann was transported by ambulance to the St. Cloud Hospital. Assisting on scene was the St. Stephen Fire Department and Mayo Ambulance Service.
