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DETROIT LAKES, Minn. 鈥� Wade Alfred Olds, 54, of Detroit Lakes, has been sentenced for crashing his pickup truck into a Detroit Lakes motel room and seriously injuring an older couple inside, one of whom later died.

He was sentenced Friday, Sept. 1, in Becker County District Court on one charge of felony criminal vehicular homicide while intoxicated and one felony charge of criminal vehicular operation while intoxicated. A second felony charge of criminal vehicular homicide while intoxicated was dropped in a plea agreement.

According to court records, on May 7, 2022, Detroit Lakes residents Frank Benninger and Jacklyn Benninger, both age 77 at the time of the crash, were resting in their motel room when the truck struck the Lakes Inn motel on West Lake Drive 鈥� theirs was the closest unit to the street in the 10-unit motel.

Emergency responders pulled the Benningers from the damaged room and they were transported to Essentia Health St. Mary鈥檚 in Detroit Lakes, then transferred to hospitals in Fargo with serious injuries. Jacklyn Benninger died from her injuries Nov. 16, according to the criminal complaint.

Olds is accused of leaving the scene. He was arrested a short time after the crash, after being found parked on Rossman Avenue at Reynolds Street. His black pickup truck had drywall dust on it and extensive damage to the left side and to the front end.

The officer immediately smelled the odor of alcohol coming from Olds and noticed that he appeared to be in a state of shock and confusion, and as he was being arrested, he told the officer, among other things, that "I must have blacked out or something," and "I'm sorry if I hurt anyone," according to the criminal complaint. His blood alcohol level tested at .148%. The legal limit is .08%.

According to court records, both the Benningers suffered major injuries from the crash: Frank Benninger had his spleen removed, had five or six broken ribs, and three broken vertebrae in his back.

Jacklyn Benninger had a severed spinal cord and confirmed paralysis from the waist down. She also had a punctured lung, a punctured liver, and numerous fractured ribs. She required continuous and extensive medical treatment until she succumbed to her injuries and died.

On Sept. 1, District Judge Michael Fritz sentenced Olds on the vehicular homicide charge to 57 months in prison at St. Cloud, stayed 15 years. He was ordered to serve a year in the Becker County Jail, with credit for 11 days served, and work release authorized per jail policy.

Fritz ordered that Olds must not be given an early discharge from supervised probation and will serve the entire probationary period of 15 years. He was fined $3,000 plus $75 in court fees, and was ordered not to use alcohol or nonprescription medications and to submit to random testing.

He has already completed chemical dependency treatment and must follow the recommendations of a comprehensive assessment, including aftercare.

He was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous on a weekly basis and Narcotics Anonymous on a weekly basis. He must also attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving Impact Panel, and must not drive, even if licensed, until permission is granted by his probation agent.

Beginning on Nov. 16, 2024, and every year after that for the next 15 years, Olds must serve 30 days on electronic alcohol monitoring and electronic home monitoring.

Olds was also ordered to perform 500 hours of community work service, including working with the Department of Public Safety's Towards Zero Death Initiative, and speaking at impact panels, civic or religious organizations, schools, or any other type of community or educational organizations regarding the dangers of drinking and driving.

On the criminal vehicular operation charge, he was sentenced to 23 months in prison at St. Cloud, stayed 15 years, under the same conditions as the other charge. He was fined $2,000 on that charge, for a total of $5,075 in fines and fees.

The sentence was a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, which call for 41 to 57 months in prison for a person, like Olds, who had a criminal history score of zero.

Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald asked the judge not to grant the departure, saying in a motion that Olds 鈥渟howed no mercy when he drove away from the Benningers after crashing into their apartment while intoxicated. Therefore, the court should not grant any mercy towards the defendant and should not allow a departure in this case.鈥�

Defense attorney Anthony M. Bussa of CJB Law, PLLC, Fergus Falls, argued in a 15-page motion that Olds deeply regrets the harm done to the Benninger family.

鈥淢r. Olds is not entrenched in criminal activity and is not in need of correction by imprisonment,鈥� Bussa said in the motion. 鈥淚nstead, Mr. Olds is a vibrant member of the community, a generally law-abiding citizen, and is working very hard at sustaining a sober life, and a life devoted to stewardship and betterment of his community.鈥�

He noted that 鈥� from 2012 to 2021 鈥� 16 of 20 offenders (with a criminal history score of zero) who were sentenced on criminal vehicular homicide offenses were granted a downward departure. That means 70% of the time their sentence was lowered from prison to local jail time.