Star Tribune
Driver admits ‘jamming out’ on air guitar when he hit and killed pedestrian in Moose Lake
A northern Minnesota man said he was “jamming out a bit” playing air guitar while driving last week when he fatally struck a man who had just left a store in Moose Lake, according to a criminal complaint.
Brent J. Keranen, 21, of Pengilly, Minn., was charged in Carlton County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash Thursday near the intersection of Industrial Park Road and Jon Brown Drive that killed 61-year-old Justin McNeil of Moose Lake.
Keranen posted bond Friday night and is due back in court on Monday. A message was left with Keranen seeking his response to the allegations. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
Court records within the past two years show that Keranen was caught on Jan. 4 by a Chisago County sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 35 texting on his phone while going 82 miles per hour. He pleaded guilty and paid a $135 fine last month.
He’s also been convicted in Minnesota of traveling 95 mph in a 60-mph zone and driving an unregistered vehicle without insurance when he crashed into a FedEx truck.
According to last week’s criminal complaint:
Law enforcement responded shortly after 2 p.m. to a report of a crash and determined that Keranen was driving north on Industrial Park Road, veered onto the right shoulder and hit McNeil soon after he walked out of a nearby Dollar General store toward his home a quarter-mile away. Emergency medical personnel declared him dead at the scene.
Keranen said he was driving to his home in eastern Itasca County after working in the Twin Cities. He said he was short on sleep after staying up the night before drinking with friends.
A few hours before the crash, Keranen said, he fell asleep while driving and “struck or contacted” a state trooper’s squad vehicle while leaving the metro area, the complaint read. He said a trooper measured his blood alcohol content at 0.066%, below the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
He said he resumed his travels after being ticketed, stopped for a 5-hour Energy shot and kept driving.
At the time of the crash, Keranen said, “he was listening to the radio when a good song began playing, prompting the defendant to play ‘air guitar’ to the song, when suddenly his air bags deployed,” the complaint continued.
He contended he didn’t know at the time that he had hit someone but later said he was “looking down and jamming out a bit, and the next thing you know, I hit somebody,” the complaint quoted him as telling law enforcement. He said his cruise control was set at 52 miles per hour in a 40-mph zone.
Law enforcement gave Keranen a roadside sobriety test, and he showed signs of impairment. A preliminary breath test at the scene measured his blood alcohol content at 0.06%.
“This is an area that swings back and forth depending on the election cycle, and it’s an area that really can deliver those decisive votes for candidates in a statewide election,” said Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor. “If the Harris-Walz ticket can develop a brand that helps them stop the party’s slide in rural Wisconsin, then that will massively help their path to victory.”
Both presidential campaigns have spent considerable time in Wisconsin. Trump recently visited the state four times in a span of eight days. Harris held rallies in La Crosse and Green Bay earlier this month, and Walz made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Madison. Walz told a crowd gathered at a “Students for Harris-Walz” event in Eau Claire that “it’s very realistic to believe that this race will be won going through Wisconsin.”
Though both campaigns have made frequent visits to the Badger State, their stops appear to be geared toward shoring up their respective bases, retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said.
“I think Tim Walz’s job right now in Wisconsin, from what he’s saying and where he’s going and what he’s doing, is, ‘let’s make sure 99 percent of our voters turn out, because we need every single one of them because of how close Wisconsin is,’” Scholz said. “To date, neither he nor Harris have communicated a message to bring in those undecideds, ticket splitters.”
Ryan O’Gara is one of those undecideds. The 47-year-old Christian conservative lives in the village of Downing, some 20 miles northwest of Menomonie and home to about 230 people. O’Gara said he sees mostly Trump signs around his town, but he isn’t a fan of either nominee and likely will sit out this election.
Asked what he thought of Walz, O’Gara referred to him as “far-left.” He said he disagrees with allowing gender-affirming health care services for minors. Walz signed a bill into law last year making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.
But then, they were Lutherans.
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“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.
Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.
Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.
Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.
Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.
“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”
