Itasca County charges: Drunken driver pointed to dead friend in ditch, tried to pin crash on him

After crashing his pickup truck on a northern Minnesota highway late at night on St. Patrick's Day, the intoxicated driver tried to pin the crash on his dead passenger in the ditch along the highway, according to charges filed Wednesday.

Christopher G. Smith, 29, of Bemidji, was charged in Itasca County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide and drunken driving in connection with the rollover last Thursday near Goodland that killed his friend sitting next to him. Smith posted bail Monday and was released from jail.

Killed in the crash was Mark A. Wirtjes, 56, a father of three from nearby Bovey. Wirtjes, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the pickup.

According to the criminal complaint:

A state trooper spotted a bloodied Smith standing on Hwy. 65 near his upside-down pickup. With him was passenger Michael P. Vail, 32, of Cass Lake. Both smelled of alcohol and "were visibly shaken and upset," the complaint read.

The trooper asked who was driving. Smith replied "Mark" and pointed to the body in the ditch. Smith insisted he was in the front passenger seat.

Vail said he was passed out drunk in the back seat and didn't know who was driving.

A trooper later collected Smith's items from a Hibbing hospital emergency room and found the keys to the pickup in his jacket pocket. Nurses there also said injuries to Smith's side "would be consistent with him being the driver of a vehicle involved in a rollover crash," the complaint continued.

Smith told the patrol he had five drinks at Wirtjes' home before they all left for the Black Bear Casino, 75 miles to the southeast in Carlton.

The crash occurred within the first 20 miles of their travels. A preliminary breath test at the scene measured Smith's blood alcohol level at 0.108 and Vail's at 0.196.

After leaving the hospital, Vail told authorities that Smith, indeed, had been driving at the time of the crash. Vail said that once he came to after the rollover, he heard Smith saying repeatedly, "I'm so [expletive]."

Reached Thursday by telephone, Smith declined to respond to the allegations.