Jogger Saves Mother & Son Trapped In Car

MORA, Minn. (WCCO) - Every morning, Jim Morrison looks forward to his routine jog down seldom-driven 215th Avenue, where wildlife and cattle are often his only company.

But a half mile into his jog Monday morning, the scenery would turn into anything but ordinary.

"So I saw rabbit tracks and I saw deer tracks and I saw turkey tracks, and then I come about here and then there's tire tracks," Morrison said.

He followed the tracks through the snow, through a fence and into a creek bed below. That's where he found a truck was nearly upside down in the water.

"And then a woman popped out, and I said 'Are you okay? Is anybody hurt? You need any help?' And she said, 'My son can't get out, he's in a seatbelt. He's trapped upside down,'" Morrison said.

With the help of a neighbor, Morrison was able to get the truck's door open and free Shane Otterson from his seatbelt.

"He opened the door and unlocked it for me because I couldn't do it myself," Otterson said. "I was pretty thankful for him."

So is his mom, Janelle Ammerman.

"We've never rolled in the car before, so it was very scary," Ammerman said.

Their vehicle was eventually rescued too. There was significant damage done to the truck, with the driver's side door dented in, a side mirror torn off and a side window knocked out.

But thankfully, and luckily, there were no injuries.

For Morrison, it was something different for his morning run, but something he hopes he doesn't see again.

"Ironically, the snow is what caused the problem," Morrison said. "But if it wasn't for the snow, I wouldn't have even seen the vehicle down there."

The Kanabec County Sheriff's office told WCCO there were three crashes this morning, all around the same time and all within just a few miles from each other.

Thankfully, as in this case, no one was hurt.