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Man found guilty in snowmobile crash that killed 8-year-old boy

The snowmobile driver, 45-year-old Eric Coleman, was indicted in March after Alan Geisenkoetter, Jr. later died of his injuries.

CHISAGO CITY, Minn. - A Chisago County man has been found guilty of multiple charges, including third-degree murder, after fatally hitting an 8-year-old boy with a snowmobile in January.

The snowmobile driver, 45-year-old Eric Coleman, was indicted in March after Alan Geisenkoetter, Jr. later died of his injuries. According to the criminal charges, Coleman had alcohol in his system while he was driving the snowmobile and struck the boy while he was on his way to go ice fishing with his family.

The crash also injured the boy's father, who was assembling a portable ice house on Lake Chisago at the time of the incident.

The charges include three felonies: third-degree murder, criminal vehicular homicide under the influence of alcohol and criminal vehicular homicide with alcohol concentration of .08 or more.

Coleman will be sentenced on Feb. 7, 2019.

According to the Chisago County Sheriff's Office, Geisenkoetter was airlifted to the hospital following the crash with severe injuries, including head trauma and multiple fractures in both of his legs. He died a few days later.

Prosecutors say Coleman has three previous alcohol-related license revocations, including one related to a crash on Nov. 2, 2017. After that incident, Coleman's blood alcohol concentration was measured at .30, nearly four times the legal limit.

Geisenkoetter's family spoke out about the incident in February, saying their little Alan loved the outdoors and "everything to do with it."

His mother, Ellie, said her son heard the snowmobile and took a few steps to peek at it when he was hit.

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