Driver fired after snowplow falls through ice

updated 10:52 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2008

CROOKSTON, Minn. - A Minnesota snowplow operator who drove a $200,000 loader into a frozen river has been fired.

Mike Raymond was clearing snow from county parking lots early Monday when he decided to also clear off a boat ramp on the frozen Red Lake River in Crookston.

Raymond says he wanted to make it easier for people who pull fish houses on trailers onto the river. He so happens to have a fish house on the river himself — but told the Grand Forks Herald that's not why he wanted to clear the area.

The John Deere 544 loader slid down the cement ramp, through the ice to the river bottom.

Emergency workers quickly helped Raymond out, but it took hours to retrieve the loader.

Raymond told the newspaper that he was fired Tuesday after 28 years on the job.

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