Becker man hurt in deer collision on I-94 near Fergus Falls

A Becker passenger was taken to Fergus Falls Hospital after a 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee struck a deer on eastbound Interstate 94 near milepost 51 in Fergus Falls Township, leaving the driver and a 15-year-old passenger unharmed. The State Patrol crash report says 40-year-old Garrett Thomas Pillatzki suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the Sunday night wreck, all three occupants were wearing seatbelts, no alcohol was suspected and the pavement was wet. Ringdahl EMS and the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

The crash fits a pattern local drivers have been seeing on the same west-central Minnesota roads. On July 22, 2025, Anna Reimer of Rochester was injured when her SUV hit a deer on eastbound I-94 in Buse Township south of Fergus Falls. In another Otter Tail County deer collision on Oct. 13, 2025, Anna Cleveland of Waite Park was hurt on Highway 34 and taken to Lake Region Hospital in Fergus Falls. Together, those crashes show that deer strikes are not limited to one season or one stretch of highway.

Minnesota safety officials say deer crashes peak in the autumn months, but deer remain a year-round threat across the state. The Department of Public Safety advises drivers to be especially alert from 6 to 9 p.m., when deer are most active, and to slow down in areas where farm fields meet wooded edges or other deer habitat. MnDOT research says deer-vehicle collisions are undercounted, with only about one in four reported, which means the risk on roads such as I-94 and Highway 34 is likely bigger than the official crash log shows. Drivers who see deer near the shoulder should ease off the gas, use high beams when possible and avoid swerving into another lane or the ditch.