Authorities identify victim of fatal one-vehicle accident near Sargeant Friday afternoon

Authorities have identified the victim who was killed in a one-vehicle accident near Sargeant in Mower County Friday afternoon.  

Mower County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the 33000 block of 670th Avenue in rural Sargeant at approximately 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon for a report of a one-vehicle accident with a male occupant trapped inside unconscious, and the vehicle on fire.  The reporting party advised dispatch that the vehicle had struck a bridge and it appeared there was only one occupant in the vehicle, and the reporter also stated that the fire was spreading rapidly.

Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik reported that upon arrival, deputies observed the SUV was fully engulfed in flames, and the lone occupant of the vehicle clearly appeared to be deceased.  Sheriff Sandvik added that fire was too hot to safely approach the vehicle.

The Hayfield Fire Department arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire, and the SE MN Regional Medical Examiners staff and the Fire Marshall also responded to the scene.

Sandvik indicated that the body of 82-year old Gary Lowell Larson of Hayfield was recovered from the vehicle, and his body was transported to the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

Sheriff Sandvik went on to state that the investigation into the accident is ongoing, and he added that no further information regarding the cause of the crash or the manner of death is available at this time.