Viola Man Left With Potentially Severe Injuries From Crash

Viola, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Olmsted County Sheriff's Office today released information concerning the crash involving a pickup and a piece of farm machinery near Rochester.

Sheriff's Captain Scott Behrns says the head-on collision occurred around 2:30 Friday afternoon on Viola Road Northeast in Viola Township. He says 75-year-old Jon Mundell of Viola was driving a pickup west when he suddenly veered across the center line and smashed into a tractor pulling a gravity box filled with corn.

The pickup and the farm machinery, which ended up on its side of the ditch, were destroyed in the crash. Captain Behrns says Mundell was transported by ambulance to St. Mary's hospital with potentially severe injuries, while the operator of the tractor, 71-year-old Kevin Hammel of Eyota, declined to be transported for treatment.

Behrns says investigators have not been able to speak to Mundell and it is not known what caused his vehicle to suddenly veer into the path of the tractor.

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