A pickup truck rolled onto its side along County Road 48 near Kimball before dawn on Sunday, after the driver told deputies he fell asleep at the wheel, triggering a violent chain of impacts that left an unbelted passenger with serious injuries. Responding deputies had to cut out and remove the truck's front windshield just to get both people out of the wreckage.
According to WJON, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office was dispatched at 4:30 a.m. Sunday after a caller reported a pickup truck on its side in a ditch along County Road 48 near 140th Street in Kimball. The driver, 24-year-old Lyman Fuchs of Eden Valley, told authorities he had fallen asleep while driving southbound on County Road 48. His passenger was identified as 22-year-old Shelby Edwards of Litchfield.
Law enforcement's account of the crash sequence, relayed by the station, describes a chaotic string of impacts rather than a simple skid. The truck first entered the ditch and struck a driveway approach, then reentered the ditch and struck a road approach before swerving back across County Road 48. From there it rolled over, struck a road sign, and came to rest on its driver's side.
Deputies Had to Cut Away the Windshield
Getting Fuchs and Edwards out of the overturned truck required deputies to cut out and remove the vehicle's front windshield, the outlet's report notes, underscoring how badly the cab had been compromised in the rollover. Both occupants were then taken to St. Cloud Hospital by Watkins Ambulance for treatment. Fuchs suffered only minor injuries, while Edwards sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Per the sheriff's office, alcohol was not considered a factor in the crash.
Edwards was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, a detail that carries real weight in a rollover. Minnesota Statute § 169.686, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, requires all drivers and passengers in a moving vehicle to wear a properly adjusted seat belt, a primary enforcement violation carrying a base fine of $25 plus court surcharges. Minnesota Department of Public Safety crash statistics cited by Minnesotans for Safe Driving have historically found that 77% of drivers ejected in crashes were not wearing seat belts, helping explain why unbelted occupants tend to suffer more severe outcomes in rollovers like this one.
Falling Asleep Behind the Wheel Is More Common Than Drivers Admit
Fuchs's account of dozing off fits a pattern federal safety data describes as widespread. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving contributes to roughly 100,000 police-reported crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatal collisions nationwide each year, according to figures compiled by the League of Minnesota Cities. Survey data referenced by The Zebra similarly shows that more than 40% of licensed U.S. drivers admit to having fallen asleep behind the wheel at least once in their driving career.
St. Cloud Hospital, where both Fuchs and Edwards were treated, functions as Central Minnesota's primary Level II trauma facility for crash victims transported from rural south Stearns County. The Sunday rollover adds to a run of serious crashes in the area this year. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office also responded to a rollover near Fairhaven at County Road 7 and County Road 44 on April 12, 2026, that killed one person and injured seven others. Two days before the Kimball crash, Minnesota State Patrol records show a motorcycle and SUV collided at Highway 15 and 135th Street in nearby Maine Prairie Township, sending a driver to St. Cloud Hospital.
Hoodline has previously covered other serious crashes in the same stretch of Stearns County, including a toddler hurt in a Kimball SUV crash and a fatal pickup rollover at a notorious Highway 15 crossroads near Rockville earlier this year. The frequency of these incidents has kept rural intersections and county roads in south Stearns County under close watch from local emergency responders.
