Two Fergus Falls residents seriously hurt in mudding rollover accident

Two Fergus Falls residents were seriously hurt Saturday evening when a homemade off-highway vehicle rolled in a muddy field on private property, turning a spring mudding outing into a rescue that pulled in firefighters, an ambulance crew and witnesses who helped free the driver.

The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened just before 7 p.m. April 18, when 38-year-old Jeffrey Rutten was driving through the field and the machine rolled over. His passenger, 29-year-old Jennifer Anderson, also was injured. Both were taken to Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls for treatment.

Deputies said neither occupant was wearing a seat belt, and both were thrown from the vehicle when it rolled. Rutten was pinned for a time under the roll bar until witnesses were able to lift the vehicle enough to free him before emergency crews finished the rescue. The Elizabeth Fire Department and Ringdahl Ambulance responded to the scene.

The crash is a stark example of how fast mudding can go wrong in rural Otter Tail County. A homemade off-highway vehicle, unlike a standard road vehicle, can behave unpredictably when it meets soft ground, uneven terrain and deep ruts. In this case, the field conditions were severe enough that the vehicle rolled hard, ejecting both people and trapping one beneath part of the frame.

Even though the crash happened away from a public road, it still became a major emergency response. That matters in a county where Fergus Falls serves as the county seat and where local incidents are tracked through the sheriff’s office on a regular basis. When a rollover pins a driver and injures a passenger, the distance from pavement does not slow the need for rescue, medical care and multiple agencies on scene.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says off-highway vehicles used in Minnesota generally must be registered with the agency or carry a trail pass when used on state and grant-in-aid trails. State safety materials also point to a broader reality: recreational motor vehicles are used for trail-riding, off-road transportation, competition and other activities, but they bring real risk when operators skip basic protections such as seat belts or helmets and head into wet ground that can destabilize a machine.

That risk has shown up in statewide data as well. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported 253 ATV and OHV accidents, 246 personal injuries and 30 fatalities as of Nov. 5, 2024, with late-2024 reporting saying the state was on pace for a record year of ATV-related deaths. In Otter Tail County, Saturday’s rollover added two more serious injuries to that troubling picture.