Not a typical boating accident

Drivers in Cloquet were greeted by an unusual vehicle on Highway 33 just before 1 p.m. Saturday when a pontoon boat slid off a trailer onto a busy stretch of the highway in front of the Pine Tree Plaza and Super One business sites. Police chief Derek Randall said a family member was trying to move the pontoon for a relative who recently passed away, and it slid off the trailer.

A tow truck removed it from the roadway while police directed traffic, Randall said, adding that no one was ticketed in the incident. The police car in the photo is the first with the new Cloquet Police Department design, created by the department's fleet team.

"Our command staff really wanted to rebrand and to come up with a new look that would be nice and crisp and bright," Randall told the council on Dec. 1, adding that they worked with Graphics Technology to come up with the new design, which are much more visible and brighter than the previous dark "stealth" designs. The cars also have "to serve and protect" written in both English and Ojibwe.

Randall said the CPD will continue with the new design scheme on future squads as they're replaced and/or updated.