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Greater Minnesota
Kirsti Marohn

Retired Sartell police chief dies after bicycle hit by semi

Officer
The late retired Sartell police chief Bob Ringstrom.
Sartell Police Department via Facebook

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A former central Minnesota police chief died last week when the bicycle he was riding was hit by a semitruck.

Seventy-four-year-old Robert Ringstrom was police chief of Sartell until he retired in 2004.

St. Joseph police said he was riding his bike at about 7 p.m. Friday when he was struck at an intersection by a vehicle traveling east on Stearns County Road 75.

In a Facebook post, the Sartell Police Department said Ringstrom was a respected leader during an era when policing standards were enhanced and the job of policing became a profession. He’s also credited with assigning police officers inside Sartell schools.

According to his obituary, Ringstrom served in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. He started his police career in Hutchinson.

Ringstrom leaves behind a wife, three adult children and four grandchildren. He will be buried in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls.