Pickup driver charged with DWI after allegedly hitting boy on bike

Star Tribune

Last update: July 9, 2008 - 11:36 PM

The driver of a pickup truck who allegedly hit and critically injured a young bicyclist Monday night in Shakopee and then left the scene has been charged in Scott County District Court.

Randal Joseph Hennes, 40, of Prior Lake, was charged with one count of criminal vehicular injury causing great bodily harm while under the influence of alcohol, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, and third-degree drunken driving, according to the complaint filed Wednesday.

Police said that Hennes was northbound on Marschall Road in a downpour around 8:50 p.m. when he collided with 11-year-old bicyclist Nicholas James Hagadorn at the intersection of 17th Avenue.

Hagadorn was taken to St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee and later flown to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition Wednesday evening.

According to the complaint, a Shakopee police officer enroute to another call saw a pickup truck drive away from the scene, make a U-turn and head back south without stopping to help the fallen bicyclist.

Scott County Deputies stopped Hennes about 6 miles from the accident scene. As he got out of his truck, he asked the deputy "Is the kid all right?" Hennes also told the deputy that he planned to return to the scene after he dropped off his girlfriend. Hennes was given a sobriety test and failed it but said he had only had one drink Monday night, the complaint said.

Records show he's been convicted of drunken driving.

TIM HARLOW