St. Louis County reports two off-road vehicle crashes, one fatal

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office responded to two off-road vehicle crashes in recent days, one of them fatal.

Around 2:30 p.m. Friday, sheriff’s deputies and first responders arrived to an area north of Buhl to find a 61-year-old Blaine woman with life-threatening injuries and a 15-year-old girl from Coon Rapids with non-life-threatening injuries. The side-by-side UTV in which they were riding had been rear-ended by a pickup truck around the 10000 block of Osborn Road in Great Scott Township.

The woman, a passenger in the UTV, was flown to a Duluth hospital and was pronounced dead, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Her name has yet to be released.

Family members took the girl, who drove the UTV at the time of the crash, to a local medical center for non-life-threatening injuries, the news release said.

The 17-year-old driver of the pickup truck, a male from Britt, was not injured.

Both the pickup driver and the occupants of the UTV were wearing seat belts. Alcohol was not believed to a factor.

On Saturday at 10:15 p.m., deputies responded to East Hayes Road near County Highway 25, east of Hibbing, to find an ATV passenger with minor facial injuries after a crash. The sheriff’s office believes both alcohol and speed were factors in the crash. The passenger was taken to an area hospital, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said.

The ATV’s driver refused medical treatment initially but was taken to a hospital as a precaution and found to have internal injuries, the release said. The driver was arrested for drunken driving.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said both incidents remain under investigation.