Guilty Plea For Injury Hit & Run at Rochester Taco Bell

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester woman accused of a hit and run last spring has entered into a plea agreement that has led to the dismissal of the felony charges filed in the case.

Olmsted County court records state that 40-year-old Lindsay Jo Hawkinson was arrested after Rochester police responded to a report of an altercation and a hit and run in the parking lot of the Taco Bell restaurant in southeast Rochester. The criminal complaint in the case alleged that she was driving her boyfriend's car with a revoked driver's license and her 11-year-old daughter in the vehicle when she was involved in a confrontation with an acquaintance outside the restaurant.

According to the court document, the victim in the case told police that Hawkinson grabbed her by the hair and pulled her partially into the vehicle before driving away. It was alleged that Hawkinson then accelerated for approximately 50 feet before the victim was able to break free.

She told police that she felt a tire rollover her back and her right ankle. The responding officers reported finding her in distress with obvious visible injuries, torn clothing, and broken eyeglasses.

The criminal complaint says the victim later went to a healthcare provider and was treated for fractured ribs, torn ligaments in her right ankle, and multiple areas of bone bruising and contusions.

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Hawkinson was charged with two felony counts of criminal vehicular operation and a misdemeanor charge of driving after revocation. Under the terms of her plea agreement, those charges were dropped and she entered a guilty plea to a gross misdemeanor charge of criminal vehicular operation.

She is scheduled to be sentenced next month.