60 days in jail for man who crashed car while drunk, left wife with fatal injury

A Pine County man was given 60 days in jail Thursday for crashing his car while drunk and leaving his wife behind with an injury that killed her weeks later.

Gerald Otto Darkow Sr., 74, was sentenced in District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the single-vehicle wreck on Oct. 16, 2021, in Sandstone that led to 69-year-old Rosemary Darkow’s death on Nov. 2.

Along with the two months in jail, Darkow’s sentence includes 30 days of electronic home monitoring for each of his 10 years on probation. A four-year sentence was set aside but hangs over him should he stray from probation’s terms, which include remaining sober.

“Although the loss was significant for this family and heartbreaking,” said County Attorney Reese Frederickson, “there were many mitigating factors that were considered with this sentencing, including age, lack of criminal history under the sentencing guidelines, significant medical concerns, the fact he no longer drives, and [he has] maintained sobriety since the crime occurred.”

According to the criminal complaint:

A sheriff’s deputy met about 1:10 a.m. with Rosemary Darkow at the scene, where she reported being in the car when her husband hit a dumpster outside a home, then left her in the street with a scraped knee.

A man who lives nearby told the deputy that the Darkows had been drinking at his house shortly before the crash. He said Gerald Darkow had “too many” whiskey drinks, the charges quoted the man as saying.

The deputy met with an obviously intoxicated Gerald Darkow at his house, where the damaged car was parked in the drive. He said he did not recall hitting the dumpster. A preliminary breath test measured Gerald Darkow’s blood alcohol content at 0.161%, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota. A follow-up test administered about 90 minutes after the crash came back at 0.18%.

On Nov. 2, deputies were called to the Darkows’ home on a report that Rosemary was unconscious and not breathing. Emergency responders pronounced her dead at the scene.

An autopsy conducted by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office noted extensive bruising on Rosemary Darkow’s left leg and determined that she died from blood clots “due to blunt force lower-extremity trauma due to [a] motor vehicle crash,” the complaint quoted the autopsy as concluding.