Man Injured While Riding Couch Towed Behind Pickup

[matcom]

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An annual ritual of riding a couch that is being towed behind a pick-up truck across a pasture proved to be a bad idea for three men early Sunday morning.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department reported that at around 1:30 a.m. Joseph Schoeder, 21, Beldenville, was driving a Chevrolet pick-up truck across a pasture towing a couch.

Timothy Flynn, 21, Welch, Minn.; Cole Eckhoff, 21, Red Wing, Minn.; and Bradley Johnson, 24, Ellsworth, were thrown from the couch when it flipped.

Johnson was airlifted by Life Link helicopter to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., where he is in serious condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Eckhoff was taken by friends to Fairview Medical Center Red Wing in Red Wing where he was treated and released.

The incident occurred at a campsite off 620th Street in the Town of Hartland, south of Ellsworth.

"They do this every year," said Sheriff Nancy Hove, "It's kind of their fishing season opening weekend ritual, just that no one has gotten hurt before."

Hove would not say if alcohol was involved.

http://www.rivertowns.net/daily/pch/c070507/