FERGUS FALLS, Minn. 鈥� A Moorhead man faces criminal vehicular homicide charges in connection to a single-vehicle crash last month in northeast Otter Tail County that killed his passenger.
Otter Tail prosecutors filed the three felony counts on Monday, Sept. 21, against Daniel Matthew Carlson, 22, alleging he was under the influence of alcohol when he crashed a 1999 BMW 328 in New York Mills, Minn. The crash killed William Maurice Jackson, 21, of Moorhead, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.
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Carlson was driving the car east on U.S. Highway 10 before 4 p.m. Aug. 4 when the vehicle entered the center median near Broadway Road, a State Patrol report said. The BMW rolled multiple times before coming to rest on the right shoulder of the westbound highway lane, the report said.
Carlson was taken to Perham Health with injuries that were not life-threatening. Jackson was taken to Tri-County Hospital in Wadena, Minn., where he was pronounced dead, according to a criminal complaint filed against Carlson.
The charging document said law enforcement received several complaints about the BMW driving around before the crash. A test showed Carlson had a blood alcohol content of 0.166 shortly after the crash, or double the legal limit, Minnesota troopers said.
Carlson told law enforcement he was cut off by another vehicle before he swerved and took the ditch, the criminal complaint said. He also said he didn't have that much to drink, "first saying one beer and then one 40-ounce beer and a shot of whiskey," the complaint said.
He also claimed he was going the speed limit, but one witness said the BMW was going between 80 and 90 mph, the complaint said. A semitrailer driver who saw the crash said it appeared Carlson fell asleep before going off the road.
Carlson hadn't been booked into the Otter Tail County Jail as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22. Court records did not list an attorney for the defendant.
Each charge carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.
