Maple Grove man dies in motorcycle crash on way home after enlisting in the Air Force

On a quiet Thursday in Maple Grove, 44-year-old Paul Croshaw experienced a parent’s worst nightmare.

For hours, Croshaw and his family had tried unsuccessfully to contact his son Landon Cole after the 18-year-old had enlisted that morning in the Air Force, launching a dream of joining the military and traveling the world. Then Croshaw pastor and a couple of friends came to the house to share the heartbreaking news: Cole had been killed in a motorcycle crash.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner said the young man died of multiple blunt force injuries.

The medical examiner said the crash happened around 12:10 p.m. near 28th Avenue N. and Vicksburg Lane N. in Plymouth. First responders took Cole to North Memorial Health Hospital, where he died just before 1 p.m., according to the medical examiner.

“He was my best friend,” Croshaw said. “Every minute I wasn’t working, we were together. Or he was with his girlfriend, who he loved more than anything and planned to marry.”

Croshaw’s family adopted Cole and his sister years ago. Although Croshaw declined to share details, he said Cole had experienced a hard past and had become his sister’s anchor.

He said Cole was a talented mechanic who had built his own motorcycle and fixed friends’ bikes for free to ensure that they were safe.

“They would always try and pay him,” Croshaw said, “and he would say, ‘It’s more important to me that the work on your bike is right because it’s literally the difference between life or death, and I would rather know it was done right and that you guys be safe than worry about how much money I make doing it.”

Cole loved church, sometimes begging to surround himself with others giving praise, according to Croshaw. He said his son scored high marks on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test used to predict military success, and he was preparing to leave for boot camp this year.

Cole was excited to enlist, and he was on the way back from enlisting in the Air Force when the crash in Plymouth occurred, according to an online fundraiser to pay for funeral expenses.

Croshaw said he hopes the community remembers Cole’s warmth.

“We want everyone to know him and know how amazing he was,” he said. “He loved so many people, and was loved by so many. And he will be missed more than anything ... by everyone.”