Minnesota father killed, 2 sons seriously injured in tractor rollover

A southern Minnesota father was killed and his two young sons were seriously injured after a vintage farm tractor rolled into a steep roadside ditch near Wells, Minnesota. Timothy Glen Steinborn, 48, of Walters, was operating an Oliver 770 tractor Tuesday afternoon with his sons, ages 10 and 8, when the tractor entered a ditch and overturned. The Faribault County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call around 12:44 p.m. reporting a single-tractor rollover, KEYC reported. When emergency responders arrived, Steinborn and both boys were trapped beneath the tractor. Steinborn was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency crews freed the two boys, who were initially transported to a local hospital before being airlifted to Mayo Clinic Hospital-St. Marys in Rochester with serious injuries. The crash remains under investigation. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Faribault County Sheriff Scott Adams identified the tractor as an Oliver 770 with two closely spaced front wheels in a tricycle-style configuration. The tractor also did not have a cab. Adams told the Star Tribune that the tractor’s design was “100 percent the factor in the fatality.” According to the sheriff’s office, investigators believe the tractor entered the steep east ditch at an incorrect angle, causing it to overturn. The Oliver 770 was manufactured from 1959 to 1967, according to the Star Tribune. Tricycle-style tractors have long raised rollover concerns because their narrow front-wheel configuration can make them less stable than tractors with a wider front end. Older machines without rollover protective structures can pose an additional risk when a rollover occurs. Minnesota has operated a tractor safety grant program since 2016 that helps farmers retrofit older tractors with rollover protection systems. The program covers at least 70 percent of the cost of purchasing, shipping, and installing a rollover protection system on tractors built before 1987, while a farmer’s individual expense is capped at $500. State officials said 612 tractors have been retrofitted through the program since it began. The investigation into the rollover remains ongoing.