Jamestown man dies in Minnesota crash

A 24-year-old University of Jamestown assistant women’s basketball coach died after a three-vehicle crash in a Minnesota work zone on Interstate 94 near Evansville, and the loss quickly reached home in Jamestown. Buffalo Grill in Jamestown closed Tuesday to mourn Koleman John Lind, whose death left a mark on Stutsman County even though the crash happened across the state line.

Lind was one of two people killed in the wreck, which happened in Grant County on I-94 and involved a work zone. The other fatality was a Woodbury, Minnesota, man. A third person was seriously injured. The crash drew local attention because one of the victims was a Jamestown resident, linking a Minnesota highway death directly back to the community here.

The Minnesota State Patrol said Lind was driving west near Evansville Sunday afternoon when his Ford Fusion collided with an eastbound Tesla. An eastbound Toyota then struck the vehicles after the initial collision. The crash happened in a construction zone, where lane shifts, narrow shoulders and changing traffic patterns can turn a routine drive into a dangerous one in a matter of seconds.

News Dakota identified Lind as the Jamestown man in a July 21 post published at 9:31 a.m. Steve Urness was listed as the poster. Separate Twin Cities coverage the same day identified the two people killed as residents of Woodbury and Jamestown, underscoring that the crash cut across communities in both North Dakota and Minnesota.

Lind’s death also touched the University of Jamestown campus, where he worked with the women’s basketball program. In a town the size of Jamestown, a loss like this reaches beyond one workplace or one team and into the daily routines of people who knew him through campus, restaurants and local gatherings. For many in Stutsman County, the immediate aftermath is now about remembering Lind and supporting the people closest to him as they face the days ahead.