DORSET, Minn. - A Park Rapids Realtor and her husband were injured Wednesday evening when the mechanized lift on a property they were showing malfunctioned, sending them plummeting more than 100 feet down toward Big Sand Lake north of Dorset.
Hubbard County Sheriff Frank Homer said Robert and Mary Beth Anderson, an agent for Coldwell Banker Clack & Dennis Real Estate in Park Rapids, suffered minor injuries in the fall, reported just after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Lake neighbors transported the couple to St. Joseph's Area Health Services, where Robert Anderson was seen for a broken rib and his wife was treated for multiple contusions.
The prospective buyer, Michael Behr, was not as fortunate.
"They found him down underneath the lift" with a compound fracture to his arm, Homer said. "It was about 150 feet down there."
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Mechanized lifts essentially act as a shuttle run by an electric cable. They are popular on hilly lake lots because they grant easier access from homes to the shore of lakes such as Big Sand Lake.
He said rescue crews had to call for additional help to get the injured man back up the steep and rugged terrain on a spine board.
"It really made it tough on the rescue personnel that arrived," he said of the hilly lakeshore.
The home, at 19325 County Road 40, is listed by the agency Anderson works for. Homer said it is owned by Richard and Karen Kok. The homeowners were not present at the time the lift gave way.
Reached Thursday, Mary Beth Anderson said, "I'm not feeling that great," but declined further comment on the fall.
Hospital officials did not respond to a request for a condition report on Behr.
The Park Rapids Enterprise and The Forum are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
