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Accident results in felony charges for driver

By Lori EhdeA Windom man faces multiple felony charges after allegedly rear-ending a motor home and fleeing the scene Friday night on Interstate 90 west of Luverne.According to the complaint filed Monday in Rock County District Court, authorities caught up with 32-year-old Abel Snell in Worthington.The accident happened at about 10:30 p.m. Friday in the eastbound lane of I-90 a few miles west of Luverne.It sent a 2004 model, 28-foot motor home into the median with a family of five from Lexington, Ken., all of whom were injured.Fourteen-year-old Steven Barnett was airlifted from the scene to Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, with internal injuries, including a lacerated liver and injury to his lungs.His mother, 39-year-old Dayna Barnett, was taken by ambulance to Luverne Community Hospital and then airlifted to Sioux Falls with multiple broken bones, including a pelvic fracture and other internal injuries.She underwent surgery to stabilize her condition to transport to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester.Her husband, 40-year-old Mark Barnett refused treatment in Luverne for head and facial cuts, and their other two sons, Christopher, 12, and Michael, 16, were treated and released in Luverne.The motor home driver, Mark Barnett, told officers he was traveling eastbound in the right-hand lane with his cruise control set at 65 mph when the accident happened.He said the back of the motor home suddenly whipped to the right, and it entered the median and rolled.Barnett said he had not seen a vehicle coming up behind him prior to the impact.Snell was not injured and his 1998 GMC pickup received moderate front-end damage, including a length of plastic bug deflector that was later used specifically to tie him to the scene.According to the complaint, witnesses told state troopers they saw a white pickup or SUV leave the accident scene and head east.The Minnesota Highway Patrol alerted Worthington authorities to watch for the vehicle, and at about 11 p.m. city officers there reported they’d found the vehicle and were attempting to stop it.After returning to the interstate, this time westbound, Snell reportedly fled officers for 1 1/2 miles before stopping.Officers noted front-end damage on the pickup, and it was missing a piece of plastic bug deflector strip that later matched the one found at the accident scene.Snell was reportedly driving erratically and acting intoxicated, and officers recovered numerous containers of beer from his pickup.A blood sample was sent to the BCA lab in St. Paul to test its alcohol content.His driving history shows two DWI convictions in 1998 and another in 2000. His driving privileges were revoked in June this year.Snell was charged Tuesday in Rock County District Court with 13 felony counts and nine gross misdemeanor counts. The most serious of which, first-degree driving while impaired, carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, a $14,000 fine or both.The other counts of criminal vehicular injury were related to causing "great bodily harm," "substantial bodily harm" and "bodily harm."As of Tuesday afternoon, the boy was still in the intensive care unit at Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls. At that time, his condition did not appear life threatening.After 10 hours of surgery in Rochester, the woman was still in ICU as of Tuesday afternoon.

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