Mankato Cop Charged With Careless Driving After Running From Accident
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Mankato hit-and-run victim says a man who approached him after an accident in May knew exactly what to do, but he ran away instead.
That man was an off-duty patrol officer.
Dan Sweeney's parked car was damaged when another vehicle crashed into a retaining wall near his home on May 27. The accident occurred around 2:20 a.m. and shook the driver awake.
According to the Mankato Free Press, the driver left the scene, but later returned and approached Sweeney and his roommates, who were examining the situation.
The man then picked up his detached bumper, with the license plate still attached, and started running up a nearby hill.
It wasn't until about two weeks later that an officer called Sweeney to tell him the driver was off-duty patrol officer Kenneth Conrad Baker.
Baker admitted to being at three downtown bars before the accident, but an alcohol test wasn't administered because it was roughly ten hours later when officers spoke with him.
He was charged with careless driving; a hit-and-run charge was dismissed in a plea agreement. Baker is now on paid administrative leave and received a stay of imposition, a $350 fine and was ordered to pay restitution.
