Bemidji man killed in crash with dump truck

A 64-year-old Bemidji man was killed in a crash Monday afternoon in Turtle River Township.

According to a report from the Minnesota State Patrol, 64-year-old James Olson was southbound on Parkers Lake Road near Birchmont Beach Road when he entered the intersection and was struck by the dump truck, which was westbound on Birchmont Beach.

Olson was driving a 1998 Chevy 1500 pickup, and the airbag did not deploy. Olson was transported to the Sanford Fargo Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The dump truck driver, 28-year-old Greggory Dobmeier of Kelliher, was uninjured.

The state patrol reports Olson was not wearing his seat belt. Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash.

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office assisted the state patrol at the scene.


Larissa Donovan was the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting and has been, almost without interruption, since Election Day 2016, through July 2023. She covered all the beats in north-central Minnesota, such as local government, crime, education, environment and social issues. She studied communications at Bemidji State University. You can follow along with Larissa's live tweets of meetings and events on Twitter!


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