A pickup driver got one year in jail for driving drunk and crashing into a lakeside motel in Detroit Lakes, Minn., killing a woman in one of the rooms and severely hurting her husband.
Detroit Lakes man gets 1-year sentence for crashing into motel, killing woman
The wreck at the Lakes Inn on West Lake Drive injured Jacklyn Benninger, who died months later.
September 1, 2023 at 11:09PM
Wade A. Olds, 54, of Detroit Lakes was sentenced by Becker County District Judge Michael Fritz after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation. The crash on May 7, 2022, severely injured Jacklyn Benninger, 78; she died several months later of her injuries. Her husband, Frank Benninger, was seriously injured.
His prison sentence of four years and nine months is stayed for 15 years, meaning he won't go back to prison unless he violates his probation. The sentence was a downward departure from state guidelines.
An attorney for Olds and Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald did not return phone call and email requests for comment Friday.
The state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found Olds' blood alcohol content within two hours of the wreck was 0.148%, well-above the 0.08% legal limit.
The wreck at the Lakes Inn left Jacklyn Benninger with a severed spinal cord, a punctured lung and liver, and broken ribs. She died Nov. 16.
McDonald argued in a court filing that Olds receive three years and five months in prison, noting that he "showed no mercy when he drove away."
Olds drove off before police arrived and did not call 911, according to the charges. An officer found his damaged pickup about two blocks away. After his arrest, Olds allegedly said, "I must have blacked out or something. ... I'm sorry if I hurt anyone."
Plaintiffs say the city, and council members Michael Ruhland and Chris Lyden, were “personally motivated by discriminatory animus against Muslims.”
