Star Tribune
Mother of 3 sons injured in UTV crash north of Willmar says 2 have now died
A second brother has died from a UTV collision with a pickup truck in west-central Minnesota a week and a half ago, their mother said.
The collision occurred about midafternoon on Jan. 7 about 20 miles north of Willmar in Norway Lake Township, the State Patrol said.
William Dahl, 15, who was operating the Polaris Ranger, died Jan. 9 at a Minneapolis hospital.
Lara Dahl said 11-year-old son Harrison Dahl died Tuesday afternoon at the same hospital.
“He fought so hard, but his little body couldn’t handle all the stress and trauma,” she wrote on a CaringBridge web page. “We are going to miss his witty comments, his energy, his adventurous self.
A third brother, 10-year-old Drew, also was on the UTV and suffered a bruise and two small cuts to his liver. He has since been released from the hospital, his mother said.
William Dahl was operating the Polaris Ranger at the time, with his younger brothers along, when they were heading south on NW. 95th Street and collided with a pickup that was eastbound on Hwy. 9, the State Patrol said.
The boys’ mother explained in an earlier CaringBridge posting that her husband, Mike, and the New London family’s four boys had gone out with their pickup and the UTV to hunting land to pick up trail cameras and deer stands.
She said William, Harrison and Drew rode the UTV home, while she, husband Mike and eldest son Gage took the pickup home. Lara Dahl wrote that “something was off because it was taking them so long. Mike got the call, and we rushed to the scene.”
The pickup’s driver, 40-year-old Matthew L. Anderson of Sunburg, Minn., was not hurt, according to the patrol.
Results of a State Patrol investigation to determine who had the right of way have yet to be released.
A state Department of Natural Resources spokesman said the UTV was being operated on a road where all-terrain vehicles are not allowed.
Correction:
The initial version of this story misstated the first name of Gage Dahl.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
