A pickup truck driver was drunk when he slammed into a lakeside motel in Detroit Lakes, Minn., fatally injuring a woman and severely hurting her husband, both of whom were in one of the rooms, according to felony charges.
Wade A. Olds, 53, was charged in Becker County District Court with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash on May 7 that killed Jacklyn Benninger, 78, and injured her husband, Frank Benninger.
Testing by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found that Olds' blood alcohol content within two hours of the wreck was 0.148%, well above the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
Olds remains free after posting a $10,000 bond and is due back in court on Jan. 9. A message was left Friday with his attorney seeking a response to the charges.
The wreck at the Lakes Inn on West Lake Drive left Jacklyn Benninger with a severed spinal cord, a punctured lung and liver, and broken ribs. She survived her injuries until Nov. 16. Frank Benninger, 78, suffered broken ribs, three fractured vertebrae and had his spleen removed.
Jacklyn Benninger worked for 25 years as a grade school teacher in the Tempe School District, according to her online obituary. The Benningers split time in their retirement years between Arizona and Detroit Lakes, the two locations where their children live, the obituary noted.
According to the criminal complaint:
Numerous police officers arrived at the motel and saw severe damage to a room where the Benningers had been. The couple were taken by emergency medical responders to a hospital.
Olds drove away before police arrived. An officer found Olds' pickup about two blocks away and noted extensive damage to the driver's side and front end.
The officer approached Olds and detected the odor of alcohol. Olds said he didn't know what happened and wasn't driving. However, as he was arrested, he said "I must have blacked out or something" and "I'm sorry if I hurt anyone."
At the jail, Olds said he must have reached down for an item while driving and hit something. He said he didn't know what he struck; he panicked and drove off. He acknowledged drinking alcohol that day and the possibility of evidence of marijuana use in his system.
