Star Tribune
Stearns County man sentenced to probation for tubing incident that injured two boys
ST. CLOUD — A Stearns County judge Tuesday sentenced a 43-year-old St. Joseph man to probation and ordered him to complete a substance abuse treatment program for admitting to drinking before a tubing incident that inured two 9-year-old boys in July.
Ryan J. Willis was charged with four felony counts and two misdemeanor counts following the incident on Watab Lake, just north of St. Joseph.
According to court documents, Stearns County deputies were dispatched to a report of a watercraft accident just before 5 p.m. July 8, after which Willis told deputies he was pulling the two boys on a tube behind a water scooter when he got too close to the shore and the tube hit the neighbor’s dock, documents state.
One of the boys was airlifted to a children’s hospital and reportedly suffered a skull fracture with a large laceration on his head, a bruised lung and bruising on his body; the other child was brought to St. Cloud Hospital for pain and a possible concussion.
A field sobriety test showed indicators of impairment and a preliminary breath test showed Willis had an alcohol concentration of 0.148%; results received from the Minnesota Bureau of Apprehension showed his blood alcohol concentration was 0.156%, documents state. The legal blood alcohol concentration limit for operating a motor vehicle, including watercraft, is 0.08%.
In November, Willis pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal vehicular operation as part of a plea agreement. On Tuesday, Judge Mary Mahler sentenced him to 20 days in Stearns County jail, but stayed the sentence, meaning he can serve it using an alcohol-sensitive electronic monitoring device at his home and be allowed to leave for work and alcohol abuse recovery meetings.
He will also be placed on supervised probation for four years, the terms of which include not using alcohol, completing a treatment program and using an ignition interlock device. His attorney, Harry Burns, declined to comment on the case.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
