La Crosse man lucky to be alive, spending Easter morning lying in ditch

With broken leg, 48-year-old
couldn’t get to place to call for help

Mark Raymond spent his early Easter morning wondering if he was ever going to see the light of day again. 

The 48-year-old lay in a ditch for five hours, 100 yards from the road, unable to get up the embankment to call for help, after his truck flew off the highway and struck a tree, before resting on its side. 

Police found him just after 7 a.m. after a passerby saw the broken guardrail and called police.

Raymond was coming from Coon Valley around bar time, and missed the turn from Hwy. 14/61 to 35. 

According to the police report, this is how the officer at the scene devised the accident happened:

Raymond was traveling westbound on 14 and failed to make the turn onto Hwy. 35.

His truck struck the median that separates east and westbound traffic. It then crossed the eastbound lanes, going into the shoulder and rolled on the grass for approximately 100 yards. 

It then crossed 35 and all three turn lanes, missing three raised medians, before smashing through the guard rail, going airborne. Police determined the truck flew 50-60 yards before hitting a tree and eventually coming to rest on its side.

They way blood was splattered about the inside of the truck, police determined he was not wearing his seat belt.

A passerby saw the smashed guardrail around 7 a.m. and called police, who found Raymond nearly unconscious, having given up trying to climb back to the roadside.

He was taken to the hospital and charged with operating while intoxicated.