A reward is being put up by the family of a 36-year-old man who has been hospitalized for more than five weeks after a hit-and-run incident in Anoka County.
Casey Kearns was walking about 8:20 p.m. on Jan. 28 on the service drive for Round Lake Boulevard just south of the G-Will Liquor store in his home city of Andover when a vehicle struck him from behind, according to the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff's Detective Gabriel Lee said authorities have yet to pin down the make and model of the vehicle, but "it's possibly a work truck or panel van."
Kearns was walking on the road, where it's "pretty desolate and dark at that time of night," when the northbound vehicle struck and dragged him "at least 50 feet," Lee said.
"There's no doubt" the driver knew that he or she hit a person, the detective said.
Kearns suffered multiple broken bones and internal injuries that require the use of a breathing tube, according to the Sheriff's Office. He will soon be moved to a long-term care facility where he will be recovering "for up to another year," a statement from the Sheriff's Office read.
"He's lucky to be alive," Lee said.
Along with a lack of witnesses, video surveillance was insufficient to assist the investigation, the detective said.
