MORGAN TOWNSHIP — A Newton Falls man died early Sunday at 12:44 a.m. after his snowmobile struck a fallen tree on the Western Reserve Greenway Trail, Ashtabula County Coroner’s Investigator Rich Mongell said.
Brian T. Thompson, 37, died instantly of blunt force trauma to the head and trunk, Mongell said. Thompson, who was leaving a party at Creekside Inn, was northbound on the trail, just north of Tish Road in Morgan Township when he crashed.
“(Thompson) was riding his snowmobile at approximately 60 mph, witnesses said, when the snowmobile struck a tree that had fallen halfway across the trail,” Mongell said. “The snowmobile hit the tree, flipped and hit a fence.”
Mongell said the impact was so great that the strap on Thompson’s helmet broke, allowing the helmet to fly off Thompson’s head.
“He had obvious head injuries,” Mongell said.
Thompson’s female friend was a passenger on the crashed snowmobile, Mongell said. Her name was not immediately available.
“She suffered a broken arm and some other injures and was treated at UH-Geneva Medical Center,” Mongell said.
Mongell said Thompson’s body was sent to the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s office for autopsy and toxicology screening. Toxicology results will be available within 10 business days, Mongell said.
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