A driver who was drunk and high allegedly roared up an interstate exit ramp and through a crosswalk at night near the University of Minnesota, running over two students and sending them to the hospital with head injuries that have kept them from their studies as finals draw near.
Ewan H. Leask, 26, of Minneapolis was arrested soon after he hit the women late Monday and remains jailed after being charged Wednesday with two counts of criminal vehicular operation while being drunk.
Leask hit the women with his Jeep Wrangler at the top of the exit from northbound Interstate 35W at University Avenue SE., then pleaded with witnesses at the scene, "Please don't tell anybody what happened," according to the criminal complaint.
Leask told officers the he had been drinking and smoking marijuana before getting behind the wheel, the complaint read. A preliminary breath test at the scene measured his blood alcohol content at 0.17 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
Leask told officers at the intersection less than a mile from his home that he smokes marijuana daily "to deal with" with Asperger's syndrome, according to the complaint. He also had hashish oil on him at the time, the complaint added.
Injured were sophomores Lanxiao Song and Zifei Guan, both 20. Song said Wednesday that she and Guan suffered concussions and have been unable to attend classes or prepare for the start of finals in less than two weeks. Song said she wasn't feeling well enough to answer any further questions. The complaint said Guan's skull was fractured.
Song, a statistics major from China, said she "can't remember clearly" when they were struck. Guan is majoring in economics and also is from China.
Leask's driving and criminal history in Minnesota includes three speeding violations since 2006 and four drug-related convictions.
Motorist Patrick Cox said Wednesday he was in the right-hand lane of the exit ramp about 11:30 p.m. when the Wrangler "came by me at 45 to 50 miles an hour" in the lane to his left.
The women were "in the middle of the crosswalk" and were crossing with the light when they were hit, Cox said. Leask's Wrangler skidded to a stop. Cox said one of the women "flew 30 or 40 feet" in the air after being hit.
At that moment, Cox said, "I got out of my car before I put it in park. It was still moving. I told [Leask] to stay right there."
Relying on his first-responder instruction while in high school, the 23-year-old Cox dashed over to the two women and "made sure they had feeling and that they didn't move their heads."
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
