Charges: Witness uses vehicle to stop drunk driver fleeing scene of crash
A witness used their vehicle to stop a drunk driver who was attempting to flee the scene of a crash in Lindstrom on Sunday, police said.
According to the Lakes Area Police Department, officers were called to the intersection of Olinda Trail and Sylvan Avenue, where a driver had run a stop sign and broadsided a car crossing the intersection.
The driver who ran the stop sign, 38-year-old Lynn Marie Filla, of Wyoming, Minnesota, then attempted to flee the scene. But a witness used their vehicle to stop the woman's vehicle, and Filla was then "physically detained" by witnesses, police said.
Filla's vehicle after the crash.
The people in the vehicle that was hit on Olinda Trail were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Filla was charged Monday in Chisago County District Court with gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation. However, court documents say "additional or enhanced charges" could be forthcoming once the full extent of the victims' injuries is known, and when investigators get the results of her blood draw.
Filla has a criminal history that includes stays of adjudication on felony criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in Anoka County stemming from a drunken crash in 2018. The criminal complaint says she was recently ordered to serve 60 days in jail on March 2 of this year, but "her jail report was delayed at her request."
The charges
According to the criminal complaint, the Minnesota State Patrol alerted the Lakes Area Police Department that a driver in a white car heading east on Lake Boulevard was crossing the center line as they entered into Chisago County.
A short time later, officials learned the vehicle, driven by Filla, had rear-ended a vehicle at Lake Boulevard and Lincoln Road, charges said.
Police attempted to find Filla's vehicle at its last known location but were unsuccessful. Then "moments later," police received multiple 911 calls reporting a crash at Olinda Trail and Sylvan Avenue.
Callers said a white car hit another vehicle and then fled the crash site, charges said. Police responded and saw a car with "heavy passenger side damage" facing west and perpendicular to traffic on Olinda Trail. Several people were gathered around the vehicle with two people inside it.
Passerbys told police after Filla ran the stop sign at a high rate of speed and crashed into the vehicle before trying to drive away, but another vehicle in the area got in front of her, causing her to stop, get out and walk back to the crash site, where she was detained by witnesses, charges said.
Filla was sitting on the sidewalk and crying as a man was holding onto her, the complaint states.
Police said Filla had "bloodshot and watery" eyes but noted she had been crying, and had a hard time staying on track while answering questions, charges allege. She also had slurred speech.
Inside Filla's car, police saw two empty alcohol bottles and a bottle of prescription pills, the complaint states.
Filla had a blood-alcohol content of 0.169, according to a preliminary breath test, charges said. Results of a blood draw were not included in the complaint.
Fill made her first court appearance Monday morning, during which bail was set at $12,000. She has an omnibus hearing scheduled for April 18, court records show.
