Sunday, Feb. 19, at about 5:57 p.m. Stearns County Sheriff?Äôs Office received a report of a single-car rollover on county Road 11 near 357th Street, about 2 miles south of Freeport. Deputies located the crashed car in a field about 100 yards away from the roadway. The car was a 1998 Buick LeSabre Custom.
The car was smoking heavily and flames were coming from the bottom of the car which was badly damaged, and the driver was trapped inside. A fire extinguisher was used on the car, but was unsuccessful in eliminating all the flames. Several nearby neighbors and a Freeport Firefighter arrived and assisted the Sheriff?Äôs Office deputy. They pulled the driver out of the driver?Äôs window before the car became engulfed. One of the persons on scene helped use a fire extinguisher to reduce the flames until the driver was pulled from the car safely.
The driver was identified as 23-year-old Brent Geislinger of Watkins. He had been southbound on Co. Rd. 11 when he veered off the road to the west and struck a driveway approach. The car went airborne for a short distance and continued southbound into the ditch and finally into an open field. Geislinger sustained injuries as a result of the crash, and was airlifted to the St. Cloud Hospital for treatment. Melrose Ambulance and Freeport Fire Department assisted in the crash which remains under investigation.