Willmar boy hit by pontoon
LAKE LILLIAN, Minn. - The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department on Monday released the identity of a Willmar boy who was injured over the weekend in a boating accident.
William Huisinga, 8, of Willmar, was air-lifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale around 3:30 p.m. Saturday after being struck by a pontoon as he was knee-boarding with his family on the south shore of Big Kandiyohi Lake.
Information on his Caring Bridge website indicates Huisinga received injuries to his face and eyes.
According to a press release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department the boy was on a knee board and was being pulled out into the lake behind a 1984 fishing boat that was driven by his father, Nicholas Huisinga, 33, from Willmar.
A 2009 Sylvan pontoon, driven by Marilyn Almen, 75, of Minnetonka, that was coming from the west veered to avoid the fishing boat. The pontoon then struck the boy, who was brought to shore by family members.
He was air-lifted by North Air Care to Robbinsdale.
Alcohol was not a factor, according to the sheriff's department, and the boy was wearing a life jacket.