State Patrol honors power and construction workers who helped solve deadly hit-and-run case

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(FOX 9)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Nashwauk man faces prison time for a hit-and-run crash that killed a little boy on Hwy. 65 in early August.

It’s a case the State Patrol may not have been able to solve without the help of a group of power line workers.

Wednesday, troopers recognized them for going above and beyond. It was a day of recognition where the memories are still raw of a lonely highway that whispers a tragic story.

There, the driver struck a teenager walking her 2-year-old nephew and fled. The little boy was gravely injured.

Kyle Larson, from Minnesota Power, happened to drive by and stop.

“I started doing CPR almost immediately,” Larson said.

He pumped on the boy’s chest until EMTs arrive, but there was no saving little Logan Klennert.

Larson was supervising the construction of a new power line in the area and the work crews had two helicopters.

“I was in it all day and they called us down and said, ‘Get gas and get going,’” Larson recalled.

Aaron Peterson searched the roads and woods for a red pickup. After an hour and a half hanging out side of the helicopter, he found it in a logging yard.

“It just seemed odd,” said Peterson, of Wilson Construction. “And I got lower and lower and it was missing a mirror and all the little details just kind of clicked together and just kept following them.”  

38-year-old Jake Place was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide and operating under the influence of a controlled substance.

The State Patrol honored all of the workers from Wilson Construction and Minnesota Power who helped troopers on that day.

It’s recognition they give right back to law enforcement and the family of the victims.

“There was other people that helped with CPR, helped control the crowds,” said Larson. “But something that you give a lot of credit to the people who do it every day. I was fortunate that I only had to do it once in my life, but there are people that have to do it daily.”

“Well, it was such a sad day,” said Jon Gannon, of Wilson Construction. “You think you should be honoring the family and the child more than us.”

One of the workers from Wilson Construction was a former Oregon State Police Officer. He helped secure the scene for evidence and helped gather witnesses before law enforcement arrived on the scene.

Those workers were recognized along with other citizens and State Troopers Wednesday at the annual State Patrol awards ceremony.