Alleged driver in St. Paul hit-and-run that killed woman claims he thought he hit cones

The driver accused of running over and killing a woman walking in a St. Paul intersection with her husband and their two dogs told police he thought he hit cones before leaving the scene, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Michael Kentrell Smith, 39, was charged in Ramsey County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the hit-and-run crash about 5:15 p.m. Thursday at Aldine Street and St. Anthony Avenue that killed Amber Deneen, 30, of St. Paul.

Smith, of St. Paul, remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court appearance Tuesday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

According to the charge:

Officers were dispatched to the scene and were told by Charles Deneen, Amber’s husband, that the two of them were walking their two dogs and saw a black SUV approach a stop sign on St. Anthony Avenue.

He said the driver slowed but “did not stop completely” before he accelerated through the intersection and “hit [his wife] and their dogs,” the complaint read. The dogs were ultimately found, but the extent of any injuries to the pets was not disclosed in the complaint.

A driver told police she saw the SUV ahead of her come to “a partial stop at the intersection” at the same time she saw the couple and the dogs crossing in the SUV’s path.

Video surveillance from moments later captured Smith pulling into a nearby gas station. He got out of his SUV and examined the vehicle’s exterior before entering the business.

Smith was arrested two days later driving the same SUV. It was “missing a piece near its front passenger tire that corresponded to [a] piece left behind at the scene of the crash,” the complaint noted.

Under police questioning, Smith denied involvement in a hit-and-run crash yet acknowledged that a photo from the gas station video was of him. He said he was at his mother’s home before he stopped at the gas station.

“I don’t remember hitting nobody if them cones or something,” Smith said. There are cones on the left side of westbound St. Anthony to protect the bike lane.

He then said he recalled someone yelling “Hey!” but explained he had music on and thought they were yelling at someone else. He added that if he did hit someone, they must have stepped out quickly when he was driving, and he probably sideswiped them.

Smith said he felt a couple of thumps underneath his SUV, then accelerated because he thought something was stuck under his vehicle.

“I didn’t know it was a body under my car,” he continued.