Coon Rapids boy, 13, killed in snowmobile crash

by Elizabeth Dunbar, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — A 13-year-old Coon Rapids boy died Sunday after his snowmobile went over a snow bank and hit a group of trees, authorities said.

Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott said Mitchell Johnson, of Coon Rapids, was unconscious and had head injuries when paramedics arrived at the Sand Dunes State Forest parking lot in Orrock Township, where the incident occurred.

Brott said in a news release that Mitchell was wearing a helmet but that efforts to revive him failed.

Brott said investigators believe Mitchell crossed the parking lot and went over a snow bank. He went airborne after hitting the snow bank and couldn't turn the snowmobile to avoid the trees, Brott said.

The death was the second involving a snowmobile in Minnesota last weekend. Christopher Ebensteiner, 31, of Sartell, was killed after two snowmobiles collided on a frozen lake in Mahnomen County.