A couple of days on a county work crew await a Lamborghini driver who has admitted to being among a large pack of exotic sports car drivers who roared along at more than 100 miles per hour through traffic on Interstate 394 on a spring weekend afternoon.
Ethan E. Hoover, 28, of Bloomington, pleaded guilty Monday in Hennepin County District Court to speeding, while charges of reckless driving and careless driving were dismissed.
Judge Frank Magill then sentenced Hoover to $578 in fines and fees, a year's probation plus a two-day stint on a county workhouse crew that will be assigned to a park or other public area.
In a court filing Monday, the county advised Hoover to dress "for all kinds of weather" and be sure to have on "sturdy work shoes." The order said he must complete his duties by mid-March. Hoover declined to comment about his decision to plead guilty.
John Ekholm, program manager in the county's Community Offender Management Division, said Tuesday that outdoor duties for crews include removing snow, clearing ice, forestry work in parks, trail maintenance and tree removal.
Should Hoover snag one of the few indoor assignments, Ekholm said, his chores could include cleaning public bathrooms and locker rooms, and possibly scrubbing puck marks off indoor hockey rink boards, cleaning the glass, mopping floors or sweeping out the stands.
"There is a community benefit to the work [Hoover] will provide" in his two eight-hour stints, said Ekholm, who added that Hoover will learn his assignment on the day he checks in.
Late in the afternoon on April 23, Hoover registered 110 mph on a state trooper's radar as he headed west on I-394 between Louisiana Avenue and Hwy. 169 with roughly two dozen others in fancy sports cars.
