Man, 23, Accused Of Slamming Into Mom, Young Son In Crosswalk
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A 23-year-old man from North St. Paul is accused of blowing through a crosswalk last week and sending a mother and her young child flying through the air.
Jordan Steven Yaritz faces two counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the Friday morning incident, which sent the two victims to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The 38-year-old mother and her 3-year-old son remained hospitalized on Monday.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office says that the incident happened just after 9:30 a.m. Friday at the intersection of Maryland Avenue and Albemarle Street in St. Paul.
A school bus had stopped to let the mother and her child cross Maryland Avenue when Yaritz's car went around the bus and slammed into the pedestrians.
The bus driver told police that Yaritz's car was "going fast." Video from a nearby barber shop showed the victims fly through the air on impact.
When officers arrived at the scene, they said that Yaritz's eyes were glazed and his speech was slow. He told medics he'd taken Ambien and Lorazepam at midnight.
In a search of Yaritz's car, officers found an empty bottle of Oxycodone, a letter for a Methadone treatment program, and needles. Yaritz told officers he was a diabetic.
Samples of Yaritz's blood were taken for analysis. Results are pending, the county attorney's office said.
Yaritz has a history of traffic violations, including failure to exercise due care in 2015, failing to obey a stop sign and speeding in 2014, and failing to obey a semaphore in 2010.
