Gully man dies in collision

A Gully, Minn., man was killed Thursday morning when his large, flatbed pickup truck was rear-ended by a semitrailer in eastern Pennington County.

The man's 1-ton pickup, with a welding rig on the flatbed, was stopped on Pennington County Highway 27, a north-south road that turns into Polk County Highway 2 about 12 miles north of Gully about 5 a.m., said Pennington County Deputy Ray Kuznia.

"The semi driver couldn't stop," he said. The driver of the pickup truck, whose name has not been released yet, was dead at the scene. The semi driver, who was driving a logging truck that was empty, was not hurt and will not be cited, Kuznia said.

The accident happened about 22 miles east of Red Lake Falls, Minn.

It's not clear why the pickup truck driver had stopped on the road, only about three-fourths of a mile north of the Polk County line, Kuznia said.

"We don't know what happened. His lights were off, and he was stopped. There could be a variety of things, from the (diesel fuel) gelling up, to the driver was tired."

Road conditions, aside from minor ice patches, were good in that spot, Kuznia said.