Alleged hunter harassment results in death

[huntnfish]

From The Forum:

Kevin Thomas McCormick, 51 of Breezy Point, has been charged in Clearwater County District Court with felony first-degree assault and hunter harassment.

According to a report from Clearwater County Attorney Jeanine Brand:

At about 10:45 p.m. Nov. 6, law enforcement officers responded to a report of a trespasser on property located near the Height-of-Land Road in Clearwater County. Law enforcement officers found neither the reporter nor the trespasser on the scene.

At about 6 a.m. Nov. 7, the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 emergency call from Pinehurst near Naytahwaush requesting an ambulance for a man with back injuries. Jerry Donald Benedict, was taken to the Mahnomen Health Center and then airlifted to Fargo, N.D., because of the severity of injuries.

McCormick was arrested and arraigned Nov. 8. Bail was set at $10,000 without conditions or $500 cash with conditions. The complaint states that McCormick pulled down a deer stand while Benedict was still occupying it.

On Wednesday, Nov. 24, Benedict died at the hospital from internal injuries.

Investigation by the White Earth Police Department and Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office continues. Brand said she will review the possibility of additional charges after reviewing the medical report.

[Coach1310]

Never ceases to amaze me how stupid people can be regarding hunting and fishing... My condolences to the family for their loss. Unfortunately one can never feel too safe in the woods anymore.

[LightningBG]

Brutal. God bless him and his family.

One more reason its a good idea to wear a harness I guess (not attached to the stand)

Lot of weird things with this story... Who called? There wouldn't be a hunter in a stand at 1045 pm. Did McCormick pull him out of the stand earlier and leave him, then call later? Strange and sad.

[walleyehunter80]

yup lots of missing info

[archerystud]

Found a little more info on a different site:

At about 6 a.m. Nov. 7, the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 emergency call requesting an ambulance for a man with back injuries. Jerry Donald Benedict was taken to the Mahnomen Health Center and then airlifted to Fargo, N.D., because of the severity of injuries.

Benedict suffered several broken vertebrae, internal abdominal bleeding and blood in his lungs. On Wednesday, Nov. 24, Benedict died at the hospital from internal injuries.

Investigation by the White Earth Police Department and Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office continues. Brand said she will review the possibility of additional charges after reviewing the medical report.

At the Mahnomen Health Center, Benedict told the Mahnomen County Sheriff’s deputy he was sitting in his tree stand in late morning Nov. 6 when a man confronted him and accused him of trespassing.

Clearwater County Attorney Jeanine Brand said in an e-mail that the ownership of the property is under investigation. A check of the Clearwater County Assessor’s Office shows that McCormick does not own land in that county.

Benedict said the man who confronted him started pulling on the canvas on his tree stand causing the stand to fall out of the tree. Benedict fell about 16 feet to the ground.

McCormick was arrested Nov. 8. He made a statement that he told Benedict he was trespassing on his property, but Benedict said he was on White Earth Tribal land and had permission to hunt there. McCormick said he extended his business card to Benedict but couldn’t reach high enough, so he stepped on the deer stand ladder and grabbed the canvas surrounding it. He said the tree stand tipped and fell to the ground.

[walleyehunter80]

Im very interested to hear how this plays out!!!

[bottom-bouncer]

hopefully with somebody in jail! to bad that wont change the fact that someone lost there life.

[Bear55]

Sad story that is for sure.

[mrklean]

handing him a business card come on

[harvey lee]

Some people will go to no end for a deer. If it's a larger buck, look out.

There is no need for this to happen. NEVER

Condolences to the family.

[B420]

What a hack job of reporting! I thought I was reading the national enquirer. About the only thing they got right was the names and date.

It's also very convenient that they left out one of the most important facts of the case.

I love how everyone wants pile it on Mr. McCormick when they are getting 1/10 of the story.

[InTheNorthwoods]

What a hack job of reporting! I thought I was reading the national enquirer. About the only thing they got right was the names and date.

It's also very convenient that they left out one of the most important facts of the case.

I love how everyone wants pile it on Mr. McCormick when they are getting 1/10 of the story.

Okay, if you're so knowledgeable about the situtation, why don't you indulge us?

I think that one of the big issues here is that most of us are confused as there are very few facts being discussed.

[Muskie456]

b420,

Fill us in. You most know what happened to write a statement like that.

[B420]

Guys,

Would love to fill you in believe me, but I will likely be on the stand if this goes to trial.

Is all I can say is that your views will do a 180 after they release more info.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Guys,

Would love to fill you in believe me, but I will likely be on the stand if this goes to trial.

Is all I can say is that your views will do a 180 after they release more info.

Maybe. But until that time comes, its hard to find any credibility in a guy who claims that the story write up is a hatchet job and that it is totally false.

Not to imply that you don't know the facts, but my suspicion is that most people are going to believe the newspaper write up over an annonymous post on the internet claiming the story (or lack there of) is full of fallacies.

So again, if you'd like to share some of the facts to try and straighten out those of us who are only hearing about the story from the media outlets, feel free. Until then...

[Bear55]

Guys,

Would love to fill you in believe me, but I will likely be on the stand if this goes to trial.

Is all I can say is that your views will do a 180 after they release more info.

No doubt there are more questions then answers at this point, can you tell us anything else? Something had to be wrong with the stand, pulling on canvas or even the stand itself shouldn't bring it down if everything was secured and if the stand was in good shape.

[flipper]

There are two people that know the truth of what happened and one of them is deceased.....

[harvey lee]

I along with many were not there so we do not know all of the facts.

The one fact we do know is that 2 people got into it and one is now deceased. Sad story to say the least.

I do not know who started what but in the end, it should never have happened. Someone lost thier cool and now it sounds like one may pay for it and the other payed the ultimate price. I would bet that both were in the wrong at some point. Someone could have walked away from this situation at the least.

All over a deer.

[Mr.Seaguar]

handing him a business card come on

Thats what I thought too.

[TRZ II]

What Mr.mcCormick did could not be that bad because the bail was so low. That is the same bail for a 1st time DWI. If they were even possibly thinking about murder or attempted murder the bail would be MUCH, MUCH higher. Wait till we get the facts. Either way it is unfortunate. Too bad B420 can't fill us in a bit.

[LightningBG]

I'm pretty sure a rhino could run into my stand and it wouldn't come down. The ladder might bend or break off, but the stand is attached with 2 straps holding 2 big toothed V's into the trunk. It could sit up there without any ladder all day long. (now if he just fell out, that's another story, but it doesn't look like that's what happened)

Keep in mind, this doesn't necessarily have to do with a deer or with hunting. This has to do with trespassing (or lack of), and one just happened to be deer hunting at the time.

[Surface Tension]

I didn't get much from the story to make any kind of opinion other then sad to see someone hurt and then later death.

As far as the writing, I was aggravated at that style of writing and facts given.

It felt like a jumbled up mess.

[NELS-BELLS]

What Mr.mcCormick did could not be that bad because the bail was so low. That is the same bail for a 1st time DWI. If they were even possibly thinking about murder or attempted murder the bail would be MUCH, MUCH higher.

I thought the same thing when I read it.

Nels

[ChrisT]

The toughest thing about this is that unless if someone else was on the ground with these guys you are just going to get this one guys story with the exception of information the deceased gave prior to passing. I think it really sounds fishy that the incident alledgidly happened late morning on the 6th, but 911 was called early in the morning on the 7th, so did that guy lay on the ground for almost 24 hours?

[Surface Tension]

Like I said the story leaves out details that should have been added.

I'm assuming, which one has to do with this story, the guy that fell out of the tree went home after the incident. The accused called in the report of trespassing that night.

The next day the guy that fell out of the tree or someone he knew called for the ambulance.