Murder Charges Accuse Minnesota Man of Intentionally Running Over Teen With Vehicle
Forest Lake, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Minnesota man is facing murder charges in connection with a fatal hit-and-run reported in Forest Lake over the weekend.
Washington County Court documents say the Forest Lake Police Department was dispatched to a park on the report of a person being run over by a vehicle. The emergency call came in shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Upon arrival officers saw a crowd gathered around a 17-year-old girl. Witnesses and first responders at the scene administered life-saving measures but the young girl was pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial investigation indicates two groups of people mostly known to each other were at the park and were in arguments and physical fights, the criminal complaint states. The conflict appeared to have desecrated and one of the people involved in the clash, identified as 20-year-old Dylan Simmons of North Branch, got into the driver's seat of his sedan and drove it at members of the opposing group, colliding with one of their vehicles.
The charges say Simmons then drove the car at members of the same group a second time and struck the 17-year-old girl with the front passenger corner of his vehicle. Witness video viewed by law enforcement shows the car running over the young girl with its passenger-side tires then driving away, the complaint says.
A passenger in the vehicle Simmons was driving then called one of the people at the scene who at the time of the call was speaking with officers. The officer convinced the passenger and Simmons to return to the scene where Simmons was taken into custody. He admitted that he knew he had hit the girl during an interview with law enforcement following his arrest, court documents say.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner ruled the girl’s death a homicide, saying she died as a result of "traumatic head injuries due to automobile-pedestrian collision. Simmons has been charged with third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide.
His conditional bail was set at $350,000 Tuesday morning. He’s due back in court on July 27.
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