Band member critical after fluke injury

POLAND — An accident involving a riding lawnmower and the lid from a can of chewing tobacco left a senior at Poland Seminary High School with a fractured skull.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Zorn said that a summer worker at the school was finishing mowing grass around the school as band members emerged from the building about 11 a.m. Thursday.

The mower struck the lid from a snuff can, throwing it 224 feet — where it struck Mark DeMartino, 18, a senior who plays trumpet.

The boy was transported to St. Elizabeth Medical Center where he underwent surgery Thursday afternoon for a fractured skull. He remained in critical condition at the hospital Friday.

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