Deer River woman charged in fatal hit-and-run
DEER RIVER, MN. (Northern News Now) - A woman has been charged after allegedly hitting a man on the side of the road with a vehicle and fleeing while she was under the influence of drugs.
Jamie Elizabeth Scholer, 37, of Deer River has been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
According to the criminal complaint, on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 5:12 a.m. the Minnesota State Patrol received a report of a fatal hit-and-run.
A pedestrian was hit on Highway 6 north of Deer River.
Clement Nason, 61, also of Deer River, was pronounced dead after being hit by the car.
Authorities were able to find two small pieces of black plastic at the scene.
After further investigation, the Minnesota State Patrol was able to identify that the car was driven by Scholer.
Court documents say authorities then met Scholer at Cohasset City Hall to inspect her vehicle.
There were broken pieces of black plastic on the lower portion of the passenger side bumper and it appeared to match the pieces found at the crash scene.
Scholer told authorities she thought she had missed hitting Nason.
It was at that point that she was arrested and transported to jail.
While in jail, authorities spoke to Scholer again where they could see signs of drug use.
It was also said Scholer had a difficult time remaining still.
According to the criminal complaint, Scholer told authorities she was driving northbound on Highway 6 when she saw a man lying on the road.
She allegedly swerved to miss him but was unable to and it was an accident.
Scholer stated she did not stay at the scene because she thought it was a situation where someone was trying to steal her car.
In addition, she told authorities she failed to call 911 or help Nason before leaving the scene.
Court documents say Scholer told authorities she used marijuana and meth the afternoon before the crash.
She also added she smoked meth the morning after the crash.
Records indicate that Scholer received a DWI back in August 2015.
Scholer is looking at up to 10 years in prison for the incident.
Her first court appearance is Thursday.
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