An Itasca County man has entered a guilty plea in a hit-and-run crash that killed a toddler last August.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol, 16-year-old Alexia Carroll was pushing two-year-old Logan Klennert in a stroller around 1:17 p.m. Aug. 1, 2019, along the shoulder of Highway 65 in northeastern Itasca County when they were both struck by a southbound Dodge Ram pickup truck, who had crossed the shoulder.
The suspected pickup was found in Nashwauk, and the driver, 39-year-old Jake Michael Place of Nashwauk, was booked into the Itasca County Jail on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular operation and driving under the influence of a controlled substance.
Place, according to court records, told officers he thought he hit a deer.
Carroll was seriously injured and treated for her injuries at a Duluth hospital. Two-year-old Logan died at the scene.
Place will be sentenced May 14.
Jake Place, 39, Nashwauk. Photo courtesy of the Itasca County Jail.
