COOK COUNTY, Minn. – A Minnesota man has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide after leaving the scene of an accident that left another man dead.
The vehicle found at the scene around 6 a.m. Saturday morning had also been involved in a high-speed pursuit by police overnight Friday.
Police believe Rodney Arlen Earnest, 36, was driving the vehicle, a Ford truck, when it became involved in an accident on the 600 Road, west of the Sawbill Trail.
Responders arrived to find the truck damaged and a deceased male on the roadway. The man was later identified as 55-year-old William Jay Evans, of Litchfield, Minnesota. An official cause of death has not yet been confirmed.
Police determined that Evans was a passenger in the vehicle, while Earnest, who had left the scene, had been the driver.
An investigation led deputies to a residence in Lake County, where Earnest was arrested. He is now being held in the Cook County Jail.
Police state he admitted to consuming alcohol, but blood alcohol results were not yet available Sunday. Investigation is ongoing.
The accident was first reported by a deer hunter, said the Cook County Sherriff's Office in a release.
