Avon Man Charged in Fatal Saturday Morning Crash

(KNSI) — A 23-year-old Avon man is facing five felonies for allegedly killing one person and seriously injuring another early Saturday in a high speed crash.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Sherburne County, just before 1:15, a Minnesota State Trooper saw a driver on westbound Highway 10 near County Road 8 in Becker traveling at a high rate of speed. He clocked the speed at 132 miles an hour. The speed limit in that stretch is 60. He turned around and attempted to stop the car, but it kept pulling away until it disappeared. The last known speed of the car, the trooper said, was 116. The trooper continued west, discovered debris on the road, and saw a woman frantically waving her arms. Her Chevy Cobalt was in the north ditch east of 97th Street Southeast near Clear Lake. She told the trooper she was the driver and was going the speed limit when a car came up behind her so fast she had no time to react. She said she saw the headlights, and that was all before the car crashed into her, causing the car to spin around and roll into the ditch. The trooper saw two people lying near the car and, about 200 yards away, saw another car with flames coming out from underneath it. When he got to the car, there was no one inside.

Thirty-four-year-old Jordan Kramer of Clarissa was a passenger in the Cobalt. He died at the scene. Another passenger, 38-year-old Candice Pooler, also of Clarissa, suffered life-threatening injuries and was rushed to CentraCare – St. Cloud Hospital for treatment.

Police were still investigating the crash at about 6:00 a.m. when a man in a pickup truck told police he was looking for his son and had tracked him to that location using the Life360 app. The man told troopers Hunter Buckentine was supposed to be the sober driver for his son Friday night.

Police did an emergency ping on the man’s phone and found where it was tracked. They discovered jeans with a key fob for an Infiniti in the pocket and a black t-shirt.

The passenger in the Infiniti told police he and Hunter Buckentine had gone to a bar in Becker where he had at least three shots and one mixed drink, and Buckentine had two shots between 9:45 and 11:00 p.m. The man said he was drunk, but Buckentine seemed OK. They left around 1:00 a.m. to go to a house in Clear Lake. As they were heading out of town, he said Buckentine was driving between 75 and 80 miles an hour and mentioned he thought he saw a cop. He then sped up to 150 miles an hour before using his phone to take a SnapChat picture of his speed. The passenger said he looked up and saw a car about one foot in front of them before the crash. He told investigators he broke the car’s passenger side window and climbed out. Buckentine went out through the driver’s side window and ran off, so he followed and told police Buckentine was saying he was going to kill himself and removing his clothes as he fled.

Investigators say Buckentine showed no signs of slowing down before impact with the Cobalt, and a search of his SnapChat account shows a speedometer reading 150 miles an hour with a text stating “new record.”

That afternoon, prosecutors say Buckentine called Sherburne County dispatch, saying he woke up in someone else’s clothes, all his stuff was missing, and he wanted to talk to a deputy. He said he went to the bar and had a shot and a mixed drink, but he didn’t remember being drunk or leaving the bar or when he left or who he left with. He said the next thing he knew, he was lying in a baseball field wearing unfamiliar clothes, so he went to a store to call the police because everything, including his wallet, was gone.

Buckentine has been charged with third degree murder in the case. That charge says the defendant was “perpetrating eminently dangerous act and evincing depraved mind.” He was also charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide for operating a vehicle in a grossly negligent manner, one count of criminal vehicular homicide for causing a crash and leaving the scene, one count of criminal vehicular operation substantial bodily harm gross negligence, and one count of criminal vehicular operation substantial bodily harm for leaving the scene of a crash they caused.

He is being held in the Sherburne County jail without bail.

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