Man pleads guilty to fatally striking pedestrian

MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — A 22-year-old man accused of hitting and killing a pedestrian in Moose Lake earlier this year entered a plea deal last Friday.

Court documents show Brent Keranen , of Pengilly, pleaded guilty to criminal vehicle homicide while under the influence of a controlled substance for the March 21 death of 61-year-old Justin McNeil. Three other counts of criminal vehicular homicide would be dropped in the plea deal.

The incident happened along Highway 73 near Jon Brown Drive shortly after 2 p.m.

Charges say Keranen told police he had been listening to the radio when a good song came on, prompting him to play "air guitar," when his vehicle's airbags suddenly deployed. He said he did not know he had hit someone.

Keranen later claimed that he was, "looking down and jamming out a bit and next thing you know, I hit somebody," according to the criminal complaint.

Law enforcement had Keranen perform field sobriety tests and a roadside breath test showed he had an alcohol concentration of .06, which is below the legal limit of .08.

Keranen had allegedly been working in the metro area and was returning home at the time of the incident. He said he had been working a lot of hours and was tired, adding that he even fell asleep while driving a few hours earlier and struck a state trooper's squad car, charges state. He received a citation for the incident.