MOORHEAD
A Dilworth, Minn., man who died early Sunday after his vehicle ran off Interstate 94 and struck a concrete median barrier died of a heart attack, according to a preliminary autopsy report.
Philip W. Symonds, 48, Dilworth, was driving a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am eastbound on I-94 east of Exit 2 in Moorhead about 3 a.m. Sunday when the vehicle left the roadway, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
A copy of the autopsy report provided to The Forum by Symonds' family states that he died of natural causes from coronary artery thrombosis and atherosclerotic heart disease.
A coronary thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot that blocks one of the major arteries to the heart. The report by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office says Symonds' left anterior descending coronary artery was 100 percent blocked.
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Clay County Sheriff Bill Bergquist said the accident investigation remains open, and he can't discuss the cause of death until he receives the toxicology report from the autopsy.
A family member said Symonds had left work shortly before the accident complaining of chest pains. He later died at Fargo's Innovis Health.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
