Bemidji man dies after being struck by vehicle on Division Street NW
A 65-year-old Bemidji man died after a late-night crash on Division Street NW, where deputies say the driver stayed and cooperated as investigators reconstructed the scene.
A 65-year-old Bemidji man died after being struck by a vehicle on Division Street Northwest in Grant Valley Township late Sunday night, turning a roadside emergency into a fatal crash investigation for Beltrami County authorities.
The Beltrami County Emergency Communications Center received the report at about 10:43 p.m. on June 21, and deputies, Bemidji police officers, North Country First Responders and Bemidji Ambulance Service all rushed to the scene west of Bemidji. Emergency crews tried lifesaving measures, but the pedestrian, identified as Floyd Cloud of Bemidji, suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead there.
Investigators identified the driver as 56-year-old Robert Ortez, also of Bemidji. Ortez remained at the scene and cooperated with authorities, and the sheriff's office said there were no signs of impairment. The Minnesota State Patrol was brought in to help reconstruct the crash.
The sheriff's office formalized the case in a June 22 press release titled Pedestrian Fatality, which said an adult male pedestrian was struck on Division Street NW and died on scene. KAXE and several other outlets matched the same core details, including the time of the call, the location in Grant Valley Township and the fact that the driver stayed at the scene as the investigation continued.
The crash lands in a county where road safety has broader weight because the population is relatively small and each serious collision is felt widely. Bemidji's July 1, 2024 population estimate was 15,733, while Beltrami County's was 46,762, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. A fatal pedestrian crash on a corridor west of town can reverberate quickly through a community of that size.
Beltrami County's traffic-safety mapping has also shown multiple fatal and serious-injury crashes in recent years, putting this death into a larger pattern of roadway danger rather than an isolated loss. Minnesota Department of Public Safety reporting showed 155 traffic deaths statewide as of June 24, a reminder that deadly crashes remained a continuing public-safety issue across Minnesota as investigators worked to determine exactly how the Division Street NW collision unfolded.
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