Police: Driver arrested in New Year’s hit-and-run in Minneapolis that left woman seriously injured

A two-week manhunt has led to the arrest of a man police say is responsible for a hit-and-run crash in Minneapolis early on New Year’s Day that left a woman seriously injured.

The 26-year-old St. Paul man was booked Wednesday afternoon into the Hennepin County jail in connection with the crash shortly before 2 a.m. Jan. 1 near 4th and University avenues NE.

The County Attorney’s Office said Thursday afternoon that it has received the case from police to review for possible charges. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

A state Department of Public Safety spokesman said the man was driving at the time of the crash without a license, which has been revoked since 2021.

Court records in Minnesota show the man has been convicted once each for driving while his license was revoked, drunken driving and driving while on his cellphone.

Family members have identified the hit-and-run victim as 26-year-old Michaela Howk. She grew up in New Ulm, Minn., and recently moved to Minneapolis from Nashville for a new job at Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis, cousin Nate Bauer wrote on an online fundraising page that was started to help with her medical bills and rehabilitation.

On Jan. 8, police found the car that the man was driving when he struck Howk and then collected DNA and other evidence from it, according to a search warrant affidavit that spelled out numerous details about the crash and revealed how police learned who was driving.

Traffic camera video captured the car traveling on University when it abruptly swerved near the intersection with 4th Avenue NE. into the opposite lanes. Moments later, other vehicles also swerved around Howk’s body in the street.

The impact left Howk with numerous broken bones, bleeding on the brain, teeth knocked out and multiple severe cuts.

Another traffic camera picked up the suspect’s car at Hennepin and University avenues NE. and identified it as a dark-colored Dodge Avenger with severe damage to its windshield.

After posting a traffic camera image of the car on social media, police received anonymous tips from the public, as well as from the car’s passenger, that revealed to them the driver’s identity.

The police license plate reader system led investigators to the car, parked at the intersection of 23rd Avenue and California Street NE. in Minneapolis, about 1½ miles north of the crash scene.