The manhunt is over after nearly two months for a driver charged with beating and seriously injuring a motorist whom he accused of cutting him off on a street in Lakeville.
David G. Beckett, 60, of Corvallis, Mont., was arrested last week in Kentucky after he was charged in Dakota County District Court with third-degree assault in connection with the road rage assault Oct. 27 behind a Walmart.
Beckett was jailed near Lexington, Ky., on Dec. 23 but released Wednesday on $150,000 bond, according to court records. He is due in court Feb. 14. Requests for comments were left Friday with Beckett and his attorney.
Mark K. Henderson, 65, of Burnsville, suffered a broken thighbone, which is now held together with a metal rod, and other injuries.
According to the criminal complaint:
The day after the attack, Henderson told police an SUV was closely following him after he had exited Interstate 35 at 210th Street W.
After the two parked, the other driver confronted Henderson, yelled obscenities, accused him of cutting him off and threatened to beat him.
The man, who later was identified as Beckett, then ordered Henderson to go behind the Walmart, saying he wanted to be somewhere there were no surveillance cameras.
Henderson was with his mother-in-law and told her to go inside the store to get help.
Once behind the Walmart, Beckett punched Henderson in the chest. When Henderson raised his right leg to defend himself, Beckett pulled and twisted it.
Henderson said he "felt his leg break" and as he fell to the pavement, Beckett "punched the top of [Henderson's] head" and fled the scene.
Police released surveillance video from the front of the Walmart, and a tipster identified the suspect. He said he had been having business dealings with Beckett in Lakeville that week, including on the day of the assault.
Beckett had been staying at a Candlewood Suites hotel near the Walmart but canceled the room he had reserved on the day after the attack.
The hotel chain's records showed Beckett reserving rooms on a route that eventually put him in Kentucky on Nov. 3.
Beckett was arrested south of Lexington. Authorities have not said how they determined his location or why he was in Kentucky.
"Lakeville police detectives were able to identify the suspect was in the area of Lancaster, Kentucky, and coordinated with Lancaster Police Department and Garrard County Sheriff's Office to have the suspect apprehended," Lakeville Police Cmdr. Jim Puncochar said Friday.
Henderson is retired from the Air Force and has worked as a sheriff's deputy in north-central North Dakota, and with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and on the southern and northern U.S. borders.
Henderson's wife, Sharon Henderson, said Friday that he needs a cane to get around.
"He's struggling," she said. "It's going to be a long recovery."
