By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A longtime Hillsboro city employee contracted this year to mow for the city drowned Saturday after his lawn mower turned over pinning him beneath it in a pond between Bomgaars and Hillsboro’s liquor store.

Kenneth Bruce Carlson, 68, was a sanitation worker for 19 years before he retired in 2018, city administrator Matt Stiles said.

Hillsboro police said Carlson had been mowing around the pond when his mower slipped off the embankment. Carlson was trapped under the mower. First responders pulled him out of the water and tried to save him, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Surveillance video from a nearby business later showed Carlson had been under water 50 minutes before he was found.

Police said another person had been helping mow at the time, but was far enough away he didn’t see the accident.

“It was certainly a tragedy, and our hearts go out to the Carlson family,” mayor Lou Thurston said.

Stiles added: “We’re really sad for the family, and our prayers go out for them.”

Family visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. today at Jost Funeral Home in Hillsboro.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Zion Lutheran Church in Hillsboro. Burial will be in Lincolnville Cemetery.