Forum News Service
PINE CITY, Minn. - An intoxicated St. Paul man sped through multiple campsites, mowing down tents and smashing into parked vehicles, before fleeing into the woods with his 3-year-old child during an early Sunday morning incident at St. Croix State Park in Pine County, according to charges filed by the Pine County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said multiple campers called 911 just after 3 a.m. to report that a man had driven an SUV through numerous campsites, causing substantial damage at the park, which is located east of Hinckley along the Wisconsin border.
Responding deputies arrested 38-year-old Lonnie James at the bottom of a river embankment, a short distance from where his vehicle crashed into a tree. The child was found in the care of her mother.
The sheriff’s office said in a news release that there were no serious injuries reported in the incident, which allegedly started as a domestic dispute between Jones and his fiancee.
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“It is believed that the severe storm that had just come through the area saved multiple lives,” the release said. “People, who would have been in tents that were run over, had sought shelter in their cars during the storm.”
