Patrol suspects man who exited vehicle was fatally hit on purpose by Twin Cities driver, charges say

Crash incident investigators believe that a driver, while high on methamphetamine, meant to hit a pedestrian who died, according to charges.

Sara Anne Persons, 40, of Mounds View, was charged this week in Hennepin County District Court with one count of manslaughter and two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash that killed 42-year-old Michael Lawver on May 30.

A warrant has been issued for Persons’ arrest. Court records do not list an attorney for her. The Minnesota Star Tribune reached out Thursday to Persons for a response to the allegations.

“It really saddens me to say my brother was killed purposely,” read a fundraising page started by Carrie Remiarz on behalf of the family.

Remiarz said that “my brother was full of life, and he finally got his life right.” Public records list recent addresses for Lawver in Blaine and Minneapolis.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police and state troopers responded about 11:50 p.m. to the crash scene and saw a Ford pickup truck with significant front-end damage and a Chevy SUV with passenger-side damage.

A man, later identified as Lawver, was on the ground nearby with numerous injuries. Emergency medical responders took Lawyer to a hospital, where he died.

Persons told officers she was driving the SUV in tandem with Lawver driving the pickup on northbound Hwy. 100 and with a passenger. All three know each other.

She said Lawver swerved at her and sent her into the median. Persons and Lawver then exited at Duluth Street, where Lawver got out of his pickup. Persons said she “could not stop her vehicle in time and crashed into the truck.”

Lawver’s passenger told law enforcement that Persons hit Lawver as well as the pickup.

State crash reconstruction investigators analyzed the crash scene and concluded that “it did not appear ... that [Persons] attempted to turn the vehicle or make any evasive maneuvers prior to hitting [Lawver’s] vehicle,” the charges read.