Alaska News

North Pole woman dies when branch punches through floor of off-road vehicle, troopers say

Alaska State Troopers said Wednesday that a 52-year-old woman from North Pole died after a branch punctured the floor of the off-road vehicle she was riding passenger in and severely injured her.

Troopers said in an online dispatch the report about the accident came in shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday. Louise Lynch was riding in a side-by-side on a trail near Chatanika Lodge, located north of Fairbanks off the Steese Highway, they said.

"Investigation revealed that while the side-by-side was in motion a branch poked through the floor and injured Lynch," troopers said.

Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters said Lynch was impaled by the branch.

Fort Wainwright personnel responded to the scene and declared Lynch dead at 3:16 p.m., Peters said.

Troopers get calls about side-by-side accidents occasionally, generally involving people falling out of the all-terrain vehicles — incidents resulting in injury or death, Peters said. This is the first accident troopers are aware of involving a branch going through the floor of an ATV, she said.

"It was described to me as a 'freak accident,' " Peters said.

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According to the latest data available from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were 428 incidents involving recreational off-highway vehicles, another name for side-by-sides, between 2003 and 2011.

The data says 68 percent of accidents involved the vehicle rolling sideways. None of the reports during that time included an object puncturing the vehicle's floor.

Two people were riding in the side-by-side at the time of the recent accident near the lodge, Lynch and the driver, Peters said.

Lynch's family has been told about the death; her body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner Office.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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