Bend man injured by out-of-control snowmobile

Dec 24,2007 00:00 by Cheryl McDermott

A 27-year old Bend man was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after he was run over then pinned underneath a snowmobile that got away from it’s rider when the throttle stuck open Friday, deputies reported.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies, Search and Rescue (SAR), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) personnel responded to Trail # 6 near Junction 160 in the Moon Mountain area after they received a 911 call about 11:20 a.m., December 21.

The victim, Joshua J. Brungardt, was helping dig out another snowmobile from being stuck when he was run over by the out-of-control and unmanned sled , Sheriff’s Cpl. Wayne Morgan said.

Brungardt was transported by SAR’s AMBU-sled, a medical transport on skis pulled behind a snowmobile, to Dutchman Snow-Park and then transferred to a Bend Fire Department ambulance. He was taken to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend with what the corporal described as non-life threatening injuries.

The operator of the snowmobile that struck Brungardt, Ricardo Cruz Orazetti, a 31-year old Bend resident, was issued a citation for unsafe operation of a motor vehicle and for not having an Oregon drivers license, said Morgan.