Star Tribune
Tesla driver says if he did kill Mille Lacs doctor, he might have been on autopilot, distracted
An Edina man who initially denied killing a small-town doctor in a hit-and-run as she walked her dogs near Lake Mille Lacs last fall said in a follow-up interview with investigators that “he doesn’t remember” hitting the woman with his Tesla, but if he did, would have been driving on autopilot and checking emails, according to newly filed court records.
The latest disclosures came in search warrant affidavits filed Thursday and Friday by law enforcement officers asking for court permission to search the man’s email account and data on his cellphone. They have been investigating the death of 56-year-old Cathy Ann Donovan around sunset on Nov. 13 along northbound Hwy. 169, near the lake’s southern shoreline.
Suspicions pointing at the 42-year-old man first surfaced in an affidavit filed on Jan. 30 that revealed his cellphone was in the area about the time Donovan was hit, a windshield wiper was on the pavement near Donovan’s body, and his SUV appeared similar to one captured on separate surveillance video footage on that stretch of the highway around the time of the crash.
Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton said then that “the facts … are significant” and added, “I think for sure we’ve established probable cause,” the legal term for what justifies charges being filed.
Charges have yet to be filed. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
The man’s attorney, David Risk, said in an email Friday to the Star Tribune, “My client is inconsolable thinking that he was involved in the accident with Ms. Donovan, and he is heartbroken for her family, her loved ones, and the community.
“My client voluntary spoke to investigators, and he explained it is probable his car would’ve been using Tesla’s full self-driving capability. He will continue to fully cooperate with this investigation until its completion as we continue to learn new information,” Risk wrote.
Two weeks after the man denied he hit Donovan, investigators questioned him again. He “maintained that he doesn’t remember hitting Cathy Donovan with his Tesla, but if he did, he would have been alone in his Tesla driving on ‘autopilot,’ not paying attention to the road, while doing things like checking work emails,” the filings read.
Donovan served as vice chief of staff at Mille Lacs Health System and as medical director of its clinics.
In mid-December, family members joined the State Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office to announce a $10,000 reward in hopes the money will lead to solving the case. Anyone with information about the crash can call the tip line at 320-983-8346 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Anti-police brutality activists interrupted a Minneapolis City Council meeting Thursday to call for Police Chief Brian O’Hara’s firing, saying his department failed a Black man who begged police for help for months, to no avail, before he was finally shot in the neck by his white neighbor.
John Sawchak, 54, is charged with shooting Davis Moturi, 34, even though three warrants had been issued for his arrest in connection with threats to Moturi and other neighbors.
Activists showed up at the council meeting and asked for time to talk about the case. Instead, the council recessed and activists took the podium and castigated the city for failing Black people, even as state and federal officials are forcing the police department into court-sanctioned monitoring because of past civil rights violations.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, founder of the Racial Justice Network, said O’Hara needs to be held accountable.
“This is not the first time instance where the community has raised concerns about his poor judgment, poor leadership, blaming the community and excuses. It’s completely unacceptable for him to get away with it,” she said. “How many Black people’s doors have they kicked in for less?”
On Thursday the council voted to request the city auditor review the city’s involvement in and response to the matters between Moturi and Sawchak.
Mayor Jacob Frey released a statement in response saying he supports the council’s call for an independent review of the case, but O’Hara “will continue to be the Minneapolis police chief.”
Protesters also questioned why the public hadn’t heard from Community Safety Commissioner Toddrick Barnette, who called a news conference within hours to say he’s not going to fire O’Hara and the city leadership supports him.
A Girl Scout from Troop 58068 told the Woodbury City Council recently that they should allow backyard chickens in the city: They cheer people up, she said.
It turned out that chickens were on an upcoming agenda and, perhaps pushed a bit by the scout’s lobbying, the Woodbury City Council at their next meeting passed a new ordinance allowing for backyard hens.
The new ordinance went into effect on Oct. 23, the night of the council meeting, and will allow people who live on property zoned R-2, a “rural estate” district, to have backyard chickens. A typical city lot is zoned R-4 and those areas still cannot have chickens, the council said.
The city has received requests “here and there” for the last several years about backyard chickens, City Council Member Andrea Date said.
Backyard chickens come have home to roost — and never leave — in a host of other Minnesota cities that allow them, from Hopkins to Thief River Falls. It’s long been allowed in both St. Paul and Minneapolis, and new cities started approving backyard coops during the pandemic, when interest spiked.
In Woodbury, it wasn’t until the question was included on the city’s biannual survey that city staff knew how people felt. The survey found less support for chickens on a typical city lot — just 13% of respondents said they strongly approve of the idea while 43% percent strongly disapproved — but a majority approved of backyard chickens on lots of 1 acre or more.
The city’s rules until recently only allowed chickens on “rural estate” properties of five or more acres.
The new ordinance allows up to six hens, but no roosters, on property less than four acres that meets the zoning requirements. Larger properties can have an additional two chickens per acre above four acres. The ordinance also sets a height limit for chicken coops of 7 feet. No license or permit is required in Woodbury for backyard chickens.
Star Tribune
Anonymous donor pays overdue bill for Fergus Falls home where town’s first Black resident lived
A $10,000 overdue special assessment bill threatening tax forfeiture of a historic Fergus Falls home was paid off this week thanks to an anonymous donor.
Prince Albert Honeycutt lived at 612 Summit Avenue East, renamed Honeycutt Memorial Drive in 2021. Not only was Honeycutt the town’s first Black resident — settling there in 1872 from Tennessee — he was the state’s first Black professional baseball player, first Black firefighter and first Black mayoral candidate.
He was an early pioneer and prominent businessman who owned a barbershop in town. Missy Hermes, with the Otter Tail County Historical Society, said Honeycutt and his wife were likely the first Black people in Minnesota to testify in a capital murder trial of a man who was convicted and hanged in Fergus Falls.
“In other places, you would never have a Black person testifying against a white person, especially a woman, too, before women could vote even,” Hermes said. “Obviously he was respected enough.”
Nancy Ann and Prince Albert Honeycutt with their children inside the now-historic Honeycutt house in 1914. Photo from the collections of the Otter Tail County Historical Society.
When dozens of people from Kentucky moved to Fergus Falls in April 1898, known as “the first 85,” Honeycutt helped integrate them into the community.
He died in 1924 at age 71 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fergus Falls.
Up until 2016, several owners lived in the Honeycutt home. But the city bought and sold the house to nonprofit Flowingbrook Ministry for $1 to take over the tax-exempt property and operate the ministry.
Ministry founder Lynette Higgins-Orr, who previously lived in Fergus Falls, moved to Florida several years ago and little activity has been going on in the historic home since. But she said there are plans to make it into a museum.
