Driver playing ‘air guitar’ to radio hits and kills 61-year-old, Minnesota cops say

Hours after he struck a trooper’s patrol car, a driver was accused of running over a pedestrian, killing him, Minnesota authorities say.

The driver, 21-year-old Brent James Keranen, told officers he was playing “air guitar” in his vehicle while listening to the radio during the March 21 incident in Moose Lake, according to a criminal complaint.

He said he was “looking down and jamming out a bit and next thing you know I hit somebody,” police said.

The victim, identified by Northern News Now as 61-year-old Justin McNeil, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said in the complaint.

The incident led to a vehicular homicide charge against Keranen, who police said was involved in a separate incident earlier in the day.

Keranen had fallen asleep while driving, striking a Minnesota State Police trooper’s vehicle, police said. He told officers “he had been working a lot of hours” and was up late the previous night drinking alcohol with his friends.

He was issued a citation from the initial crash when a preliminary breath test revealed his blood alcohol content was below the legal limit, according to police.

“The defendant admitted he was tired, but he later stopped and consumed a ‘5-hour energy’ drink before he resumed driving,” authorities said in the complaint.

Keranen said he had his cruise control set to 52 mph in the 40-mph speed zone before striking the pedestrian, police said.

McNeil had just left a Dollar General and was carrying his purchased items while walking on the shoulder of a highway, court records show. He was struck when Keranen veered off the road and onto the shoulder, the complaint said.

While Keranen showed signs of being impaired, a second preliminary breath test registered a blood alcohol concentration of 0.06 — once again below the legal limit of 0.08, police said.

Northern News Now reports Keranen faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of vehicular homicide.

Moose Lake is about a 115-mile drive north of Minneapolis.

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