Mother, son charged in St. Paul bicyclist's death

A mother and son have been charged in the fatal hit-and-run of a St. Paul bicyclist last year.

Dustin J. Hegner Royce, 28, of St. Paul, was charged in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide. Authorities allege that he failed to stop at a red light and drove an SUV into Jose Hernandez Solano about 12:10 a.m. on Nov. 26.

Hernandez Solano, 52, was leaving his job at Brasa Rotisserie when he was hit and left unconscious in a lane of traffic on W. 7th at Grand Avenue. He died Dec. 7 at Regions Hospital.

Hegner Royce's mother, Abbey R. Hegner, 47, of West St. Paul, was charged with two counts of aiding an offender after the fact. They were both arrested Friday morning.

Authorities had arrested them in December, but released them without filing charges as they continued to investigate the case.

Charges filed Friday show that witness interviews, surveillance video, phone records and searches of the suspects' homes were used to build the case against them.

The criminal complaints also show that when confronted by police, Hegner allegedly said that she had sold the SUV to a "Somalian, Mexican, brown skin" days before the crash.

Surveillance video showed that Hegner Royce allegedly sped, illegally passed other cars and ignored traffic control signals leading up to the crash, then traveled westbound on W. 7th toward Keenan's. Additional video showed that the male driver, who was alone, resembled Hegner Royce.

License plate information traced the vehicle to Hegner, who is a bartender at Keenan's and was working when Solano was killed.

A witness told police that Hegner Royce ran up to his mother while she was smoking outside that day.

"Mom, I need you!" he allegedly said.

Hegner soon left the bar. Phone records showed that she traveled between Mendota Heights, St. Paul and South St. Paul following the crash, and that she received calls from her son during that time.

Surveillance video from a Burger King on E. 7th Street showed that Hegner Royce was driving the SUV on Nov. 24, which conflicted with the date, Nov. 22, his mother allegedly told police she had sold it.

The owner of the landscape company that employed Hegner Royce also told police that he saw the damaged SUV parked at the company's site either Nov. 26 or 27.

Hegner Royce allegedly told the owner that he had hit a deer. The SUV has not been recovered.

Sgt. Julie Sam said at a news conference in early December that the SUV traveled so fast it appeared as a "blur" on video. Hernandez Solano's son, Jose Adrian Hernandez, traveled from his home in Mexico for that event, and said his father had worked in the United States for several years to support his family.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708