By Paul Walsh
Star Tribune
WOOD LAKE, Minn. — Several beer cans were found near the scene where a firetruck “rolled several times” with a suspected drunken driver behind the wheel, according to a newly released court document filed by police.
The crash occurred Friday in Wood Lake while the town’s Fire Department was participating in Lakeview High School’s annual homecoming festivities.
Rescue crews found Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, trapped beneath the truck when they arrived. He died at the scene.
The driver, Andrew Vanhecke, 37, and passenger Beaux, his 6-year-old son, were injured and have since been released from the hospital, State Patrol Lt. Mike Lee said Monday.
The patrol said it believes Vanhecke was under the influence of alcohol when the firetruck crashed on its way back to Wood Lake after participating in homecoming festivities.
Police in nearby Marshall, after getting court permission, collected a sample of blood from Vanhecke while he was being treated for his injuries at a hospital in that city, according to a search warrant affidavit made public Tuesday.
The sample was sent to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing to determine Vanhecke’s degree of intoxication. Those results are pending.
Vanhecke was driving the firetruck north on 490th Street just north of Cottonwood “when it veered into the [right] shoulder, struck a mailbox, overcorrected and rolled several times” before landing in a ditch,“ the filing read.
Several 12-ounce cans of beer “were located close to the firetruck,” the affidavit noted.
Charges against Vanhecke are pending, Yellow Medicine County Attorney Mark Gruenes told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Tuesday, adding, “that could change at any time, of course.”
No one in the truck had on restraint devices, according to the patrol.
On Monday, Vanhecke’s wife filed for divorce, court records disclosed.
Part of the festivities included Lakeview’s cross-country team delivering the homecoming game ball on a 10-mile run to the high school from Wood Lake. Two of Remiger’s children are cross-country runners and are coached by their mother, Becky Remiger.
Remiger was a 20-year member of the volunteer Fire Department while also running a dairy farm, according to his obituary.
“Pat was proud to be a dairy and beef farmer,” his obituary read. “He was incredibly punctual, reliable, had an unmatched work ethic, and could fix anything that would break down.”
Along with his wife, Remiger is survived by their children, Cole, Tate and Shelby Remiger; parents Steve and Jane Remiger; and a sister, Hope Mammele.
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