Hit-and-run leads to arrestPolice find hit-and-run suspect in house attic; Austin man was deemed ‘inimical’ to public safety
Published 11:30 am Wednesday, August 23, 2017
A man was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene of an accident on Tuesday evening.
Daniel Thomas Wear, 55, of Austin was charged with gross misdemeanor driving after cancellation of his driver’s license-inimical to public safety and misdemeanor traffic collision-driver involved fails to stop for collision on Wednesday in Mower County District Court.
According to Austin Police Chief Brian Krueger, officers responded to a call of a hit-and-run accident at 5:33 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of 11th Avenue Northwest and Fifth Street Northwest.
A woman at the scene said she collided with a Mercury Mountaineer at the uncontrolled intersection while heading east. Both cars pulled over, but the Mercury Mountaineer then fled the scene.
A witness gave police the license plate number of the vehicle and police found the Mountaineer parked in an alley in the 1000 block of Fifth Street Northwest. They spoke to the registered owner of the vehicle, who said she had not driven it. She told police her boyfriend had a set of keys, but he was not there.
She gave police permission to search her residence where they found Wear hiding in the attic. When asked why he ran, he told police he was scared and his license had been cancelled as “inimical to public safety.”
“Inimical to public safety,” allowed under Minnesota law, allows the Department of Public Safety to cancel the license when the driver is deemed to pose too great a threat to others to allow him to continue driving.