One year in jail for Minnesotan who was playing air guitar while driving and fatally struck pedestrian

A northern Minnesota man has been handed a one-year jail term after admitting to “jamming out a bit” on air guitar while driving and high, and fatally hitting a man who had just left a store in Moose Lake.

Brent J. Keranen, 22, of Pengilly was sentenced Monday in Carlton County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash on March 21 at the intersection of Industrial Park Road and Jon Brown Drive. Killed was 61-year-old Justin McNeil, of Moose Lake.

A test by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension detected that Keranen’s blood alcohol content soon after the crash was 0.054%, below the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, the criminal complaint read. The test also detected methamphetamine, cocaine and THC in his blood.

Judge Rebekka Stumme set aside a four-year prison sentence in favor of the year in jail. The sentence includes 10 years’ supervised probation and 150 hours of community service.

Court records show that Keranen was caught on Jan. 4 by a Chisago County sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 35 texting on his phone while going 82 mph. He pleaded guilty and paid a $135 fine.

He’s also been convicted in Minnesota of traveling 95 mph in a 60-mph zone and driving an unregistered vehicle without insurance when he crashed into a FedEx truck.

According to the Carlton County criminal complaint:

Keranen said he was driving to his home in eastern Itasca County after working in the Twin Cities. He said he was short on sleep after staying up the night before drinking with friends.

A few hours before the crash, Keranen said, he fell asleep while driving and “struck or contacted” a state trooper’s squad vehicle while leaving the metro area, the complaint read. He said a trooper measured his blood alcohol content at 0.066%, below the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.

He said he resumed his travels after being ticketed, stopped for an energy drink and kept driving.

At the time of the crash, Keranen said, “he was listening to the radio when a good song began playing, prompting the defendant to play ‘air guitar’ to the song, when suddenly his air bags deployed,” the complaint continued.