Driver surrenders in fatal hit and run

David John Lund, 22, is charged with criminal vehicular homicide in the death of Emiliano Camilo Hernandez, 43.

By VINCE TUSS and PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 12:13 AM

A 22-year-old man charged Monday in a hit-and-run death last week in south Minneapolis did not stop because he was "scared and freaked out," according to the criminal complaint.

David John Lund, of Minneapolis, is charged in Hennepin County District Court with a felony count of criminal vehicular homicide. He was being held in the county jail in lieu of $75,000 bail and is to appear in court this afternoon.

"He's struggling and hoping for the best," said Evelyn Lund, his mother.

Emiliano Camilo Hernandez, 43, of Minneapolis, was struck and killed Thursday night at 31st Street and Minnehaha Avenue S., according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office. He was found lying on Minnehaha Avenue about 9:40 p.m. along with debris from a sport-utility vehicle or truck. He was pronounced dead at the accident scene.

Lund turned himself in Friday after his mother heard a radio report about the hit and run. "I told him that he could not carry something like that around, that he needed to talk to the detectives," Evelyn Lund said.

He called Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Garcia and said he was the driver of the SUV, according to the complaint.

Witnesses reported seeing a small SUV leaving the area, according to the complaint. One saw Camilo Hernandez get hit; another saw the SUV drive around a car in the intersection and heard a collision.

An off-duty Brooklyn Center police officer said he feared the SUV would hit him from behind before it "swerved around him, drove 'through' a red light and turned a corner," the complaint said.

David Lund told police that he was driving a 2009 Chevrolet Trailblazer that struck Camilo Hernandez, the complaint said. After the collision, Lund went to a nearby halfway house for drug and alcohol dependency where he has been living. His mother said he had been living at the house about a year, "working to get himself clean."

According to the complaint, Lund told police he had used marijuana, Oxycontin and cocaine four days before the crash but hadn't used alcohol in several months.

vtuss@startribune.com • 612-673-7692 pwalsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482

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