A 74-year-old South St. Paul, Minnesota, man died Aug. 29 from injuries sustained during an Aug. 18 motorcycle accident in Buffalo County.
According to the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office, James Raymond Ruecker crashed his 2004 Yamaha FZS10 motorcycle on Hwy. 37 near the intersection of Steiner Road in the town of Gilmanton. First responders found Ruecker unresponsive but still breathing as he was lying on the roadway near a guard rail in the southbound lane. He was flown to Mayo Health System in Eau Claire
Police were told by people riding with Ruecker that he entered a sharp corner at a high rate of speed, causing him to take a corner too wide and strike a guard rail.
Ruecker was the first of two Minnesota men to crash motorcycles in Buffalo County within an 11-day period. Juan Castillo, 56, also of South St. Paul, was airlifted to a Rochester, Minnesota, hospital after crashing a motorcycle Aug. 29 on Hwy. 88 in the town of Lincoln.