Passenger Hurt After Driver Falls Asleep, Truck Rolls Near Kimball

(KNSI) — A 22-year-old Litchfield woman suffered serious injuries early Sunday morning when the truck she was riding in rolled into a ditch after the driver fell asleep behind the wheel.

According to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, a 911 call came in around 4:30 Sunday morning for a pickup truck lying on its side in the ditch on County Road 48 near 140th Street in Kimball. Deputies, along with Watkins Fire and Rescue and Watkins Ambulance, arrived to find two people trapped inside. Crews removed the windshield to pull them free. Investigators say the woman was not wearing her seatbelt.

The driver, a 24-year-old Eden Valley man, told investigators he had dozed off while heading southbound on County Road 48. Crash investigators say they believe the truck veered into the ditch, clipped a driveway approach, swung back onto the road, hit a driveway on the opposite side, then careened back across the road and began to roll, coming to rest on its side in the west ditch after hitting a road sign.

The driver, who was wearing his seatbelt, escaped with only minor injuries.

Investigators say alcohol was not a factor in the crash.

___