Fatal snowmobile collisions on rise in MN

UPDATE, FEB. 3
Charges were updated against Eric Joseph Coleman to include criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular operation and one count of DWI. Alan Geisenkoetter Jr., 8, died on Wednesday.

ORIGINAL POST, FEB. 1
Fatal snowmobile collisions are on the rise in the state of Minnesota, according to statistics kept by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

Six people died in fatal snowmobile collisions in 2017, the state’s highest total since there were 14 fatalities in 2014. In addition, three of those six deaths were the result of collisions that involved alcohol consumption.

Those six fatalities equal the total for the previous two years combined. Fatal snowmobile collisions for the past five years in Minnesota show these totals (those involving alcohol are in parentheses):

• 2017: 6 (3)
• 2016: 3 (1)
• 2015: 3 (3)
• 2014: 14 (8)
• 2013: 8 (5)

Those numbers total 34 fatalities, 20 that involved alcohol consumption.

Alan J. Geisenkoetter, 8, passed away Wednesday after being injured in a snowmobile collision last Friday on Chisago Lake.

Fatal snowmobile collisions: 2018

The new year has produced one fatal snowmobile collision: 8-year-old Alan Geisenkoetter Jr., of Wyoming, MN, died Wednesday after spending five days in critical condition at St. Paul’s Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare.

Last Friday night, the Geisenkoetter family was on Chisago Lake setting up a portable ice-fishing house when a snowmobile driven by Eric Joseph Coleman struck Alan Jr. and his father, Alan Geisenkoetter Sr., according to criminal charges against Coleman.

Coleman, 45, of Chisago City, MN, was charged with criminal vehicular operation, DUI, and criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm.

It was revealed at that time that Coleman’s license had been revoked three times previously for alcohol-related incidents. The last occurred in November, an incident in which his blood-alcohol concentration was allegedly 0.30.