A 59-year-old Rosemount man who has 17 previous driving while intoxicated convictions was charged with felony DWI after police allege he was driving while under the influence of meth when he caused a serious accident in Vermillion Township.
Marshall Anthony Knoll was officially charged by the Dakota County’s attorney’s office on Monday with felony first-degree DWI, felony criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm, felony criminal vehicular operation resulting in substantial bodily harm and gross misdemeanor driving after license cancellation for his role in four-vehicle crash on US Highway 52 last fall.
“Driving under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol poses a significant risk to public safety and too often results in serious injuries or death,” Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a statement Monday.
After the crash, Knoll’s blood was tested, which revealed that he had both methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system at the time of the accident.
Caused Serious Accident
According to a witness, Knoll was driving a pickup and pulling a trailer while driving erratically in the northbound lanes of U.S. 52. Traffic eventually came to a standstill, but Knoll did not stop his vehicle, rear-ending the vehicle in front of him at about 50 miles per hour. One person suffered several bone fractures and internal bleeding, while another occupant suffered a spinal cord injury.
When police arrived on scene, they noticed that Knoll had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and was groggy and unsteady on his feet. After going through a field sobriety test, an officer obtained a permit to test Knoll’s blood, which uncovered the illegal drugs in his system.
Knoll’s first DWI conviction came back in 1979, and since then he’s been convicted 16 additional times for driving under the influence of both alcohol and illegal drugs. He remains in jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond, and he’s due back in Dakota County District Court on October 25.
It seems likely that Knoll is going to get serious jail time for his actions, but hopefully he also gets the mental help and substance abuse care that he needs. Simply sending him to jail for a set period of time isn’t going to make him any less of a danger to himself or the public upon his release. We see it so often with DWI cases, if the underlying issue goes untreated, be it mental health problems or substance abuse, recidivism rates will skyrocket. Hopefully he can get the mental health services he needs and the people he injured can make full recoveries.
