Minnesota man was drunk when he crashed ATV and killed passenger, charges say

A 36-year-old man was drunk when he crashed an ATV into a ditch in southwestern Minnesota during a late-night ride and killed one of his three passengers, according to criminal charges.

Calvin Francis Loosbrock, of Lismore, Minn., was charged Monday in Nobles County District Court with one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the wreck of the side-by-side vehicle early Saturday that killed 43-year-old Sara Mara Pittman, of Fairmont, Minn.

Loosbrock was jailed a few hours after the crash and remained jailed as of Tuesday afternoon in lieu of $10,000 bail. He’s due back in court on Dec. 10. A request was left with his attorney for a response to the allegations.

According to the charges and a related court filing:

Sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical responders arrived about 12:25 a.m. at the scene north of Lismore, where Loosbrock yelled and pointed to the location of the crash.

A deputy saw Loosbrock stagger into the road. The deputy rolled down his squad window and detected a strong odor of alcohol from him. The deputy reported seeing several empty and open beer cans at the scene.

The deputy saw emergency rescue personnel lifting the ATV off a man and Pittman. The man was conscious, but Pittman was unresponsive. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Luverne and pronounced dead about 1:45 a.m.

A blood sample was collected from Loosbrock at a Worthington hospital to be tested for his body’s alcohol content. While there, he declined to comment to a deputy about the crash.

One of the passengers told a deputy that Loosbrock swerved the ATV into a ditch and ignored pleas from Pittman and another passenger to slow down. Loosbrock then made a hard turn left at a corner and back to the right, sending the ATV tipping over into the ditch.