Hit-and-run charges filed

Charges were filed Thursday, in the case of a hit-and-run crash nearly four weeks ago in Cloquet that police previously described as a case of “road rage.”

A 38-year-old Cloquet woman was charged via summons Thursday, Feb. 3, by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office.

Rebecca Lee Glader faces seven charges, including three counts of felony criminal vehicular operation with substantial bodily harm and leaving the scene of an accident, along with gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor traffic violations including failure to stop, failure to notify police, reckless driving and violating the “keep to the right” traffic law.

Although police spoke with Glader the same evening as the incident, the investigation by police and decisions by the county attorney’s office took time.

“From our standpoint, it’s better to obtain as much information as possible and present a thorough case,” Cloquet police chief Derek Randall said, also explaining that police have no control over the timing of filings by the county attorney’s office.

According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement got a report of a crash on the southbound lane of Carlton County Highway 45 in Cloquet, near Carlton Avenue, at 5:38 p.m. Jan. 14.

At the scene of the crash, officers found a man who had been struck by a maroon Chevrolet Tahoe, which had left the scene.

According to the complaint, the Tahoe driver and her passenger had been following or pursuing the victim in his vehicle. There was a collision — which the criminal complaint does not explain — which pushed the victim’s vehicle off the roadway and into snow.

Witnesses told law enforcement they observed the defendant continue driving her maroon Tahoe after the collision, and then perform a U-turn on Highway 45, and drive back toward the victim and his stuck vehicle again.

Witnesses alleged that as she drove closer, the defendant drove her vehicle over the centerline, traveling northbound in the southbound lane of Highway 45, and then drove partially onto the far shoulder where the victim was standing outside his vehicle and hit him.

The victim’s significant other, Stacy Lancrain, told the Pine Knot News in the days after the accident that she was driving and they were run off the road by the other vehicle, and then the driver turned around and hit Andrew (Drew) Wallien, before fleeing the scene.

It was shift-change time at the Cloquet Police Department, and an alert officer observed a vehicle that “looked like it was fleeing” while on his way to work, Chief Randall said. “The officer was vigilant and got the information (about the vehicle),” Randall said in a previous interview. “They put the pieces together when he got to work.”

According to Lancrain, Wallien went through a total of 14 hours of surgery that night and the next day for internal bleeding and damage to internal organs along with several fractures to his left hand, an injury to his left knee, and other injuries from being hit. Lancrain had three broken ribs and a bruised kidney.

Lacrain said she and Wallien were uninjured after the initial encounter. They were leaving the Holiday gas station on Cloquet Avenue and headed home for Duluth, she said. She had been driving, and he came around to help her out and check the damage, she said. Then he saw the other vehicle had turned around and was coming back. It was snowing at the time.

“At this point, we thought it was an accident due to weather conditions,” she said. “Then they swerved from the other lane and hit Drew, almost head-on. I thought they were going to hit the car and the door slammed into me, that’s where my injuries come from. I heard the car hit Drew and opened my eyes to hear myself screaming. I thought Drew was dead.”

Glader allegedly admitted to police there was an earlier verbal altercation between the victim and her passenger.

According to the complaint, Glader also admitted to driving her Tahoe and following the victim, eventually hitting the victim’s car, after which it was sent “down into the ditch.” Glader allegedly said drove back toward the victim’s vehicle and drove over the centerline and into the other lane. She alleged that Wallien was in the road way and “acting aggressive” as she drove near him and said she knew she hit something, with a “50-50 chance” she hit him.

According to the criminal complaint, after dropping off her passenger, Glader texted him, allegedly writing that it “did not go the way (she) intended and didn’t expect (the victim) to do what he did.” She also allegedly wrote: “Still considered a hit-and-run, I didn’t stop, I panicked.”

Glader was not taken into custody. Her first court appearance is set for March 17.

The maximum sentence for each charge of criminal vehicular operation with substantial bodily harm and leaving the scene is five years or a $10,000 fine, or both.

Wallien didn’t have insurance and friends have started a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses. Go to gofundme.com and search “Please Help Drew after tragic accident” to find out more. As of Tuesday, they had raised $XXX of a $5,000 goal.