Crime briefs - Feb. 2

Two escape injury after icy roads cause rollover near Mahnomen

Icy roads were to blame for a Saturday night rollover about 7 miles west of Mahnomen, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

At 8:06 p.m., Sheila Rae Thompson, 44, of Bagley, Minn., was westbound on state Highway 200 in a Dodge Caravan when she lost control and went across the road into the east ditch, where the vehicle came to rest on its side, according to a crash report. Thompson and her 14-year-old passenger, James Allen Witczek of Bagley, were taken to Mahnomen Health Center, but no injuries were reported. Both were wearing their seatbelts and alcohol was not involved, according to the report.

Mahnomen is about 40 mile north of Detroit Lakes.

Police: Woman stabbed male acquaintance in Moorhead, officers trying to figure out who started it

Moorhead police are trying to figure out who was the aggressor in a Saturday night stabbing that left a man injured.

First responders were dispatched at 7:45 p.m. to the 1200 block of 15th Avenue North, where a 24-year-old man had multiple knife wounds in his chest and arm, according to police scanner discussions. The Moorhead Police Department in a news release described the man's injuries as "serious but non-life-threatening." The unidentified man was taken to a local hospital, the release stated.

A 30-year-old woman was responsible for the man's injuries, according to the release. Lt. Chris Carey said the woman had been identified but was not in custody as of Sunday morning.

The two individuals involved in the case are acquaintances, he added. Carey said Sunday morning no charges had been filed and the case was still active, as officers were trying to figure out who instigated the confrontation.

"This could be a couple days until we figure out charges," he said. "We're still trying to figure out who the primary aggressor was."

There is no threat to the public as it was not a random act, the Police Department stated. Law enforcement declined to name the individuals in the incident but plan to release more information as they become available.

Car hit man kneeling in road near Lake of the Woods, report says

A Baudette man who was kneeling on the road was fatally hit by a car late Sunday, Jan. 29, near Lake of the Woods.

Lake of the Woods emergency responders were dispatched about 11:20 p.m. to 3992 County Road 8 about 10 miles northwest of Baudette, where a 2003 Buick Century driven by Jon Bryan Haney, 36, of Rochester, Minn., was eastbound on the road just west of Minnesota Highway 172, according to a crash report from the Minnesota State Patrol. Haney told officers he saw a pedestrian kneeling on the road, and though the driver swerved, he still collided with the pedestrian, according to the release.

Haney was not injured in the crash, but the pedestrian, a 39-year-old from Baudette, died of his injuries. Haney was wearing his seat belt, and there was no alcohol in his system.

It's unclear why the man was kneeling in the roadway.

Authorities did not release the name of the pedestrian. The crash is under investigation, and the man's body will undergo an autopsy, said Sgt. Jesse Grabow, a spokesman for the State Patrol.

Baudette is about 100 miles north of Bemidji.

Sheriff says random bullet entered his daughter's bedroom

Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie said Monday that it was a coincidence that a bullet went through a window at his Mendota Heights home early Saturday.

Leslie said his home near Minnesota 13 and Sylandale Road was not targeted, and that no one was injured.

"This is a whole different Monday if I'm targeted and my family is in danger," he said. "My family was still in danger a little bit, but it was a random shot up in the air and it hit my house. It could have been anyone's house down the block."

Leslie said the state Bureau or Criminal Apprehension analyzed the bullet's trajectory and determined that it had been fired into the air and "traveled and tumbled" through his 17-year-old daughter's window.

"Bullets, when shot out of a gun, are supposed to travel like a spiral of a football," he said. "But this was tumbling."