'Can't walk for two months,' says Minnesota state senator injured on snowmobile

A state senator who crashed his snowmobile in central Minnesota during a ride with fellow legislators said he has a broken pelvis that will keep him off his feet for weeks.

Sen. John Jasinski, R-Faribault, ran into the back of a snowmobile on Feb. 4 that was being operated by state Department of Natural Resources enforcement chief Rodmen Smith, who had slowed to make a 90-degree left turn. They were trail riding with others on a "VIP" event organized by a snowmobile advocacy group.

"I can't walk for two months," Jasinski said Thursday at a transitional care unit in Plymouth where he is recuperating. He said he also fractured three ribs and a vertebra in his lower back.

Jasinski said he's attending to legislative duties remotely as best he can.

Jasinski said he was riding near the front in a string of snowmobiles numbering eight to 10 or "maybe a few more" on a snowy and icy trail at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour early that afternoon. He said he "hit a hump in a ditch" and then came to a curve to the left "a little quicker than I anticipated."

A trailing snowmobile operated by Sen. Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, ran into Jasinski on the ground. Johnson and Smith were not injured.

The senator said he had not been drinking alcohol. The Sheriff's Office said neither Jasinski nor anyone one else caught up in the crash exhibited any signs of impairment that would have been legally necessary to test for intoxication.

"It was a typical snowmobile accident," Jasinski said. "I'm a good rider. I've been riding since I was 8, 10 years old."

The Sheriff's Office report said he and Johnson requested that local authorities handle writing the report and not the DNR, but Jasinski said Smith made that request given the enforcement chief's association with the state agency.

Jasinski was first elected to the Senate in 2016.