Avon Man Pleads Guilty to Fatal High-Speed Crash on Highway 10

(KNSI) — A 24-year-old Avon man has pled guilty to his role in causing a crash that killed one person and seriously injured another in August.

Court documents allege a Minnesota State Trooper saw Hunter Buckentine driving westbound on Highway 10 at a high rate of speed near Becker. The trooper clocked the vehicle at 132 miles an hour, more than twice the speed limit and tried to conduct a traffic stop, but said the vehicle disappeared. He continued driving toward the vehicle’s last known location and came across debris on the roadway near Clear Lake and then saw a woman frantically waving her arms. She told the officer she saw a car coming up behind her so fast she had no time to react, and the car crashed into her, causing it to spin around and roll into the ditch. The trooper saw two people lying near the car and, about 200 yards away, saw Buckentine’s car with flames coming out from underneath it. When he got to the car, there was no one inside. Buckintine’s passenger said he broke a window and climbed out, while Buckentine also climbed out a window but ran off.

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

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.”

Buckentine was 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.

Buckentine pled guilty to one count of criminal vehicular homicide – gross negligence, but the other charges were dropped. Prosecutors did file an intent to seek aggravated sentencing.

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