DNR responds to fatal ORV accident in Delta County

DELTA COUNTY — A Delta County man died Saturday after an all-terrain vehicle rollover accident occurred on the man’s property near Rock.

The body of Charles Edward Dedic, 84, was taken to the Anderson Funeral Home.

At 2:43 p.m. Saturday, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers Steve Butzin and Chris Lynch heard a call over their police radios reporting the accident.

The officers were nearby and responded, arriving first on the scene.

Dedic had been riding his side-by-side ATV alone on trails on his property. Investigation showed he appeared to have lost control of the machine, rolled over and was ejected from the vehicle.

He came to rest face down in a water hole, pinned underneath the ATV. Approximately a half-hour after the accident, Dedic was found by his son, who pulled his father from the water and called 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers.   

Conservation officers administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with the help of an automated external defibrillator, until first responders arrived from Rock.

Rough trails prevented EMS workers from getting the ambulance to Dedic. Instead, a DNR patrol truck was used to transport him out, with Butzin and a Delta County sheriff’s deputy continuing attempts to try to resuscitate the man.

Those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.