State Sen. Torrey Westrom was injured in a snowmobile crash Sunday in western Minnesota while riding with a 13-year-old driver, officials said.
The crash occurred about 3 p.m. on the north end of Lake Ida north of Alexandria, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said.
The snowmobile struck a packed snowdrift, and the impact threw Westrom off the machine, the Sheriff's Office said. Deputies arrived to find him about 200 yards from the shoreline.
The 49-year-old Republican from Alexandria was complaining of upper-body back pain and was taken by emergency responders to nearby Alomere Health hospital, according to the Sheriff's Office. The teenager was not hurt.
The Senate Republican Caucus said in a statement late Sunday that the teenage driver is member of the Westrom family and has his youth snowmobile safety certification.
Caucus spokeswoman Rachel Aplikowski described what the snowmobile struck as "an ice chunk" left over from a fish house.
Westrom served in the State House from 2007 until 2013, when he joined the State Senate. He was elected to another term this past November.
