Minneapolis man charged for fatal hit-and-run

A Minneapolis man has been charged for striking and killing a woman on a mobility scooter in North Minneapolis, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Thursday.

Cameron Bendson, 21, was charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide for running a red light and fatally hitting a female victim as she moved through a crosswalk.

Bendson is scheduled to make his first appearance October 15 at 1:30 p.m.

According to the criminal complaint, on October 11 just before 2:30 p.m., Minneapolis police went to West Broadway Avenue and Aldrich Avenue North in Minneapolis in response to a hit-and-run.

When officers arrived, the female victim was found in the middle of the intersection unconscious. A group of people had conglomerated around the victim, with several witnesses telling police that a white Jeep Grand Cherokee hit the victim before driving away, the complaint says. Additional witnesses told officers that the victim was on a motorized scooter as she was crossing the crosswalk when the vehicle struck her.

Footage reviewed by the officers from the area showed the victim crossing West Broadway Avenue when the Jeep runs a red light and hits her. The impact of the collision demolishes the scooter, and the victim is thrown across the intersection to the other side of Broadway Avenue, the complaint continues.

The victim was taken to North Memorial Hospital by ambulance where she was pronounced dead.

Records from the Department of Vehicle Services obtained by police showed Bendson as being the most recent purchaser of the Jeep, the complaint states. An unrelated call from October 10 police found revealed that Bendson was reported for being high on methamphetamine and driving his Jeep. Bendson is a known user of the substance.

On October 12 at 1:45 a.m., Minnesota State Patrol found the Jeep in a median on Highway 100 in Brooklyn Park. The vehicle had crashed and the interior had been set on fire. Some 10 hours later, St. Anthony police were called on the report of a suspicious person in an alley behind a business on Pentagon Drive, the complaint states.

There, officers found Bendson, who then was arrested. A witness spoke with police who informed them that Bendson was a former employee of the business, and that he came into the business and appeared to be in an inebriated state that day, the complaint says.

View the criminal complaint against Bendson (PDF).