A former Duluth man who drove drunk on Woodland Avenue and crashed into another vehicle killing a grandmother and critically injuring her grandson pleaded guilty to two crimes this morning and agreed to serve a longer-than-guideline sentence.
Hawk Patrick Edwards, 19, who had been living and working in the Williston, N.D., area pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide resulting in the death of Paula Bergren, 65, and pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm to her grandson, Edward Everett Bergren, 13.
He agreed to serve a four-year prison sentence for each crime. However, as part of a plea agreement reached between St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin, Edwards and his public defender, Fred Friedman, the defendant will be eligible to have his prison time reduced if the critically injured boy achieves a substantial recovery.
Judge Shaun Floerke will make the decision on whether the sentence is reduced based on medical reports that he reviews. Floerke ordered an Arrowhead Regional Corrections probation officer to investigate Edwards? background before sentencing on March 30.
Bergren, a Woodland resident and well-known in Duluth recreational sports circles as former president of the Minnesota Recreation and Sports Federation and the Duluth Softball Players Association, was driving her 1995 Ford Taurus southbound when a 2001 Ford F250 Super Duty pickup driven by Edwards crossed the center line and struck her vehicle on the 2900 block of Woodland Avenue on Jan. 19
A witness told police she saw a pickup passing several cars and fishtailing along the center line. She said the truck was being driven recklessly and too fast.
Edwards? first statement to police after the accident was: ?I just killed those people.?
An investigating Duluth police officer detected the odor of alcohol on Edwards. The defendant admitted to the officer that he had been drinking that morning. His eyes were bloodshot and watery. A preliminary breath test was administered to the defendant. The result was a 0.11 percent blood-alcohol level. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08 percent. After taking the test, Edwards said: ?I am going to jail. I deserve to for what I did.?
In court this morning, Edwards admitted that he was driving drunk and made no excuses for the accident that he caused. ?I know that I did do it, but I don?t know exactly what happened,? he told the court.
Tags: news,?crime,?courts,?woodland,?auto
Source: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/223122/
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