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Sherman Bernard Frederick
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A man from Crosslake and Champlin was charged Tuesday with a felony count of criminal vehicular homicide and a count of reckless driving in the death of a 3-year-old boy from Buffalo, Minn., who died after being hit by a van Saturday, May 9, in Merrifield.
According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Crow Wing District Court, a van driven by Sherman Bernard Frederick, 66, struck the boy, identified by the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office as Jack Larson, as the boy was crossing County Road 3 in Merrifield with other children at 2:54 p.m.
The boy, who died at the scene, was in Merrifield with his family visiting his grandparents for Mother's Day weekend, according to the sheriff's office.
He was with four other children ages 6-14 who had been playing at the Merrifield Lions Park and were crossing County Road 3 from east to west, south of the county road's intersection with Crystal Lake Road.
According to the complaint, witnesses said vehicle traffic had come to a stop in both directions, with four or five vehicles stopped in each lane as the children attempted to cross the road.
Witnesses said the van driven by Frederick moved over onto the southbound shoulder of County Road 3 and passed at least five vehicles that had stopped. Witnesses indicated the van was traveling between 30 and 50 mph, and said they did not observe the brake lights activate before the van hit the boy, according to the complaint.
They said four of the children made it safely to a grassy area and that Larson almost made it to the grass, but the van hit him.
According to the complaint, Frederick said he looked up and saw two children but didn't know what happened before that. He said he did brake to slow down, but later said he may have fallen asleep or his diabetes may have caused him to black out.
Tire marks and tracks at the scene indicated the van crossed over a solid white line onto the shoulder and passed the five stopped vehicles. All four of the van's tires were off the pavement and on the gravel shoulder, and at one point the passenger side tires were on the grass, the complaint said.
No abrupt skid or slide marks before the area of the crash were observed and it appeared the van continued along the southbound shoulder in a straight manner.
The posted speed limit on County Road 3 at the site of the crash is 35 mph and there are two neon yellow pedestrian crossing signs observable from the north before the crash site, the complaint said.
Frederick also was charged with misdemeanor failure to provide proof of insurance.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl reminds motorists that passing on the right is illegal when it requires driving onto the shoulder of the roadway, whether paved or unpaved, or off the pavement or main-traveled portion of the roadway.
"This is a violation that we seem to be seeing more and more of," said Dahl, "and it is always dangerous. If there are cars stopped in the road in front of you, they probably have a good reason for stopping. The few seconds you save by passing on the right is not worth the lives you place at risk by doing so."
