Prosecutor: Man In Hit-And-Runs Had 0.18 BAC
ROCHESTER, Minn. (WCCO/AP) -- A prosecutor says the man charged in two hit-and-run crashes that killed one person and injured three others in downtown Rochester early Saturday had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent.
Christopher Allen Trautman of Oronoco faces 14 charges, including three felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. If convicted on all the charges, he could get 55 years in prison.
Prosecutor Julie Germann told the judge that Trautman hit four pedestrians while driving at speeds of 50 mph on a 30-mph stretch of road.
The criminal complaint said after a night of drinking Trautman refused to take a cab, even though his female passenger wanted asked him to.
Police said just after midnight, he got on the road and hit Austin Melville and Christopher Glenski who were walking across Broadway at Fourth Street Southeast. Trautman never stopped.
Four blocks later, Trautman hit Becky Dass and Tom Chan who were walking near Center Street, according to the complaint.
"She rolled over the car, she was on the ground, she was hurt. She didn't know where he was, she didn't know he was hurt at the same time," said Brad Kautz, Dass's father.
The complaint said Trautman then ran from the car and was spotted a short time later at a Days Inn. He had cuts to his face at the time of his arrest.
"It's one cascading series of bad decisions and a lot of people hurt," said Kautz.
Kautz didn't hear about his daughter's accident until the next day. Her purse and identification had become part of the crime scene. He even read about the hit-and-run in the paper and later learned his daughter was one of the victims.
The 23-year-old mother of two has a broken leg and bruising. Chan and Glenski are also recovering after surgery. Melville died at the hospital.
Trautman was convicted of drunk driving in 1998 and 1999. Trautman returns to court Friday.
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