(Algona)– A rural Algona man was treated for severe hypothermia after he was accidentally locked out of his vehicle which had become stuck in a snow drift on a Kossuth county road.
The Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office says 43-year-old Michael Riggert left his home with the family dog a little after midnight Tuesday morning. The vehicle he was driving became stuck in a snow drift on 230th Street about a half mile west of County Road P-30. The Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office was was called to that location around 9:18 am that morning after getting a report of a stranded motorist. Deputies and family members arrived and found the road was drifted shut. The Kossuth County Road Department was summoned and plowed out the road. A man identified as 43-year-old Michael Riggert was found at the scene and was taken by ambulance to an Algona hospital where he was treated for severe hypothermia and low glucose levels.
The Sheriff’s Office says Riggert was attempting to shovel the vehicle free, but while he was doing that the dog bumped the door lock, locking Riggert out of the vehicle. He eventually managed to break out a window and got into the vehicle. He ran the vehicle’s engine for heat, but it eventually ran out of gas. It wasn’t certain what time the vehicle ran out of gas.
