WAHPETON, N.D. -- A Hankinson man suffered severe head injuries early Sunday morning when he lost control of the sport utility vehicle he was driving and was ejected as it rolled in a ditch south of Wahpeton, the North Dakota Highway Patrol reported.
Dean John Coppin, 39, was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, Minn., then airlifted by LifeFlight to MeritCare Hospital in Fargo, the patrol report said.
A MeritCare nursing supervisor said Coppin was at the hospital, but that his family did not want his condition released.
Coppin was driving a 1997 Ford Expedition southbound on a gravel Richland County road about two miles south of Wahpeton about 2:30 a.m., the accident report said.
The report said Coppin's SUV had drifted into the right ditch. He then overcorrected to the left and crossed the road and entered the left ditch.
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The report said he overcorrected his steering again and the vehicle rolled three times. Coppin, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected and landed on the road. The vehicle came to rest in a field.
The Richland County Sheriff's Department and the Wahpeton Police Department also responded to the accident, the report said.
