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Dec. 05--A 46-year-old man drove his pickup truck into a pond in Vadnais Heights and died after being underwater for several minutes, authorities said Monday.
The man who died Sunday night was Michael A. Lange, age 46, of Vadnais Heights, said Ramsey County Sheriff's Office spokesman Randy Gustafson.
According to the Sheriff's Office:
The incident began about 8 p.m. Sunday, when the pickup was spotted heading west on eastbound County Road F. Soon after, the pickup was heading south on Vadnais Heights Boulevard and went into a pond near Vadnais Lake and overturned in the water.
A county water patrol deputy in his dive gear cut Lange's seat belt and pulled him out with the help of two Vadnais Heights firefighters.
"They got a pulse going" before Lange was taken in an ambulance to Regions Hospital, Gustafson said.
Lange died less than 90 minutes later, Gustafson said. Nobody else was in the pickup.
"He was probably in the water for five to 10 minutes," Gustafson said.
Road conditions were icy, he said, and that might have contributed to the pickup ending up in the water.
Paul Walsh --612-673-4482
