Snowmobiler Falls

Through Ice, Dies

WALTON – A snowmobiler died, possibly from a heart attack, when his sled went through the ice Friday on a pond along Chipmunk Hollow Road in the Town of Walton, state police at Sidney reported today.

It is believed that Jeffrey M. Benson, 46, succumbed to “hypothermia/cardiac arrest.”

According to troopers, Benson and a friend were riding on snowmobiles across a pond at 6:15 p.m. Friday when the friend heard ice crack and saw Benson in the water.  He went back to help the man out of the water, but finding him “unresponsive” rode on to the nearest house and called 911.

Benson was located up to his neck in water and was pulled out of the pond by members from Walton Fire and EMS.  When troopers arrived, he was out of the water and obviously deceased.