Watch CBS News

Boy, 8, Critically Hurt After Being Hit By Snowmobiler On Chisago Lake

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- An 8-year-old boy is in critical condition Sunday night after a snowmobile crashed into him.

Investigators say the snowmobile driver admitted he had been drinking. It happened just before 8 p.m. Friday on Chisago Lake.

Alan Geisenkoetter Jr., 8, was with his father as his dad was setting up a portable ice house near their pick-up. Witnesses say a speeding snowmobile hit the child and then dragged him across the ice.

We talked with the little boy's grandmother and aunt.

"I cannot explain the gut-wrenching angst I feel inside," Marybeth Lonnee said.

The grandson who Marybeth adores now has two broken legs, a bruised lung and a traumatic brain injury.

"It's really hard. It's really hard to look at him and that little tiny body and all the pins coming out of his legs," Lonnee said.

Doctors gave Alan Jr. a temporary tattoo, declaring him a super hero as he fights to recover. Witnesses say the child was struck by a snowmobile that was travelling at a high rate of speed as he stood near a portable ice house his father was assembling.

The ice house was hit too, injuring Alan Jr.'s father.

"Why somebody would start going so fast, and then keep going?" Lonnee said.

"I don't know the man, but he made bad, bad choice," she said.

Alison Cromie is Alan Jr.'s aunt.

"We are all angry. We are all extremely frustrated that this even had to happen. From what I've heard he was going extremely fast in a very crowded area, in an area where families fish," Cromie said.

Alan Jr's little sister and his cousins made him a get well poster as they and the rest of the family hope for the best.

"The orthopedic surgeon was in there this morning and he was touching his toes and he moved his foot a little," she said, adding it is a good sign.

A GoFundMe has been created to help Alan Jr. with his medical expenses.

A CaringBridge page has been established to monitor his recovery.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.