Man charged with murder, criminal vehicular homicide in Forest Lake pedestrian crash
Dylan Robert Simmons (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff's Office)
(KSTP) – Charges have been filed against the man accused of fatally hitting a teenage girl with his car in Forest Lake on Sunday.
According to a criminal complaint, 20-year-old Dylan Robert Simmons has been charged with third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide.
Around 1:22 a.m. Sunday, multiple Forest Lake police officers responded to a person being hit by a vehicle in the parking lot of Lakeside Veteran’s Memorial Park. Court documents state that when authorities arrived, they saw several people standing around a female lying on the ground, with one of them performing CPR.
Police, fire crews, and EMS responders performed emergency medical care; however, the 17-year-old victim died at the scene.
Law enforcement spoke with multiple witnesses and learned that there were arguments and physical fights between two groups of people, with most of them knowing each other. Various members of the groups were armed with baseball bats, hammers, a crowbar and a folding knife.
Court records indicated that after the conflict had died down, Simmons and another person got into a white Mazda sedan. Simmons drove in the direction of several people from the opposing side of the conflict and hit the back end of a car with five people inside.
The complaint states that Simmons then backed up and then drove toward multiple people from the opposing group. This time, Simmons hit the 17-year-old girl with the front passenger side of his car and drove over her with the front and rear passenger tires.
According to court documents, Simmons and the passenger then ran away from the scene.
While police were conducting their investigation, Simmons and the passenger returned to the scene, where Simmons admitted to driving the vehicle during the incident.
Simmons was then detained and brought to the Forest Lake Police Department, as stated in court records.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on the teen victim, but her identity has not yet been revealed.