Shriners International sued after Minnesota man died testing stunt cart before parade

A wrongful death lawsuit alleges that Shriners International and its Minnesota chapter, Osman Shriners, is responsible for the death of a longstanding member from Stewartville who was asked to drive a new stunt cart without a helmet, crashed and died last summer before a parade in La Crescent.

On Aug. 10, 2024, Ryan Colligan, 45, was preparing for his 190th Shriners parade as the longstanding Masonic society looked to raise money for Shriners Children's medical facilities.

The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, was brought by Colligan's wife, Audrey. It states that Ryan was a big man — 6 feet 3 inches tall and 260 pounds — and, despite his high center of gravity, "he was not given the option of wearing a helmet" before driving a cart he had never operated.

The homemade cart had four wheels, handlebars similar to a bicycle and a small motor tucked under a stool seat which sat a few feet off the ground. Colligan wanted to test drive it before the parade.

He was traveling at approximately 15 miles per hour when he attempted to apply the brakes. The cart skidded and flipped and Colligan hit his head on a curb and lost consciousness. Blood began to pool near him as bystanders and medical personnel performed CPR. He was transported by ambulance to Gundersen Hospital in La Crosse, Wis., where he died a few hours later.

Another member of the Osman Shriners, which is based in Eagan, had built the stunt cart, and the lawsuit says the cart had been added to the parade lineup for the organization in July, one month before Colligan crashed. The Shriners are ubiquitous along parade routes in Minnesota with their stunt carts and members in fez hats. The lawsuit notes that Shriners International has a global membership of nearly 200,000.

Tariq Miller, an attorney with Pritzker Hageman in Minneapolis who is representing Colligan's spouse and children in the lawsuit, said in a statement that, "If the Shriners had taken the very obvious precaution of requiring members to wear a safety helmet while riding in a parade, Ryan would still be alive today."

Miller added that after Colligan's death, the Shiners instituted a helmet requirement and banned the cart he was driving. Miller called these "simple and cost-free steps that would have prevented the death of a beloved Shrine leader."

Colligan had recently been elected to serve as "the Potentate of the Osman Shiners for 2025,″ a role that is similar to the chapter's president or CEO.

The lawsuit demands a jury trial on counts of negligence and liability and seeks more than $50,000 in damages. Lawyers representing Osman Shriners did not respond to a request for comment.

An obituary for Colligan said that he was a supervisor for the Environmental Services Department at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He had three children and his family asked that any donations in his honor be made to the Shriners Children's Twin Cities Clinic.