Bail set in 'road rage' hit-and-run incident

A woman charged with hitting a car and then coming back and hitting one of its occupants made her first appearance in Carlton County Sixth District Court last week.

Rebecca Lee Glader, 38, 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.

Glader’s attorney, Andrew Poole, asked that Glader be released on her own recognizance with a promise to make court appearances, asserting that she is not a flight risk because she has children and is employed.

The prosecuting attorney asked the judge to set bail at $30,000 and to implement a no-contact order with the victim along with ordering a pretrial release and chemical dependency assessment. Glader said her license has been suspended.

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 vehicle after the collision and drive back toward the victim.

Witnesses alleged that as she drove closer, the defendant drove her vehicle over the centerline and then drove partially onto the far shoulder where the victim was standing outside his vehicle and hit him.

Glader allegedly admitted to police there was an earlier verbal altercation between the victim and her passenger. Police called it a case of road rage in the days following the incident.

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.

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.

Sixth District Carlton County judge Amy Lukasavitz set Glader’s bail at $30,000 with a 10 percent cash option, along with the other conditions requested by the prosecution and told Glader she needed to contact the probation department.

An omnibus hearing is set for May 4.