Colorado driver airlifted after Dalton stop-sign crash injures one

A stop-sign mistake east of Dalton sent a Denver man to the hospital by air ambulance and left a rural county intersection scarred by a high-impact crash that could have turned worse.

Hernando Murillo, 29, of Denver, was driving south on County Highway 39 around 11 a.m. Wednesday when he failed to stop at the intersection with County Highway 12, the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office said. His vehicle t-boned a pickup traveling east with a trailer attached. Murillo suffered severe chest injuries and was flown for treatment by Life Link Air Med.

The pickup driver, a 59-year-old Fergus Falls man, was not reported injured. Deputies said the pickup, Murillo’s vehicle and the trailer were heavily damaged, underscoring the force of the collision at the rural crossing east of Dalton. Authorities said alcohol or impairment were not factors, and no charges had been filed as the case remained under investigation.

The response brought together Dalton Fire and Rescue, Ashby Ambulance and Life Link out of Alexandria, a reminder of how quickly several agencies can be pulled into one crash scene in western Otter Tail County. In a county that spans 2,225 square miles and ranks as the seventh-largest in Minnesota, distances to higher-level care can make helicopter transport the fastest way to reach a trauma team after a serious wreck.

The crash also put a sharp local focus on two safety issues that investigators often review after rural collisions: whether drivers obey stop signs and whether they are restrained. Minnesota law requires drivers and passengers to wear seat belts, and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety says more than 90 percent of front-seat occupants in the state buckle up. Murillo was not wearing a seat belt, a detail that likely mattered when the impact drove the severity of his chest injuries.

For Dalton-area drivers, the case fits a pattern that makes these intersections unforgiving. Other serious crashes near Dalton, including rollovers on I-94 in June and December 2025, have also sent responders from the sheriff’s office, ambulance crews and local fire departments racing to the scene. At County Highway 39 and County Highway 12, one missed stop was enough to trigger a helicopter flight and a hospital trip, another hard lesson on the cost of a split-second mistake.