Farming accident kills man in Stearns County

A Watkins man died Sunday afternoon following a farming accident in Luxemburg Township.

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office says emergency crews were called to a home off 143rd Avenue near 155th Street at around 1:07 p.m. The 911 caller reported that a man had been run over by a tractor.

Deputies learned the man had been trying to hook up a wagon to the rear of his tractor and corn picker combo when the tractor started rolling forward down a slight decline. The man tried to jump onto the tractor and stop it before it rolled into a shed but slipped and was run over, the sheriff’s office says.

First responders provided aid to the man — identified by the sheriff’s office as 59-year-old Matthew Mathies — while a medical helicopter responded. However, Mathies died from his injuries at the scene.