By Tim Ruzek
Post-Bulletin, Austin MN
A 28-year-old man faces impaired-driving charges for crashing his vehicle a year ago north of Austin.
Jacob Matthew Medgaarden of rural Lansing is charged in Mower District Court with four counts of gross-misdemeanor third-degree driving while impaired and a lesser count of having drug paraphernalia.
Medgaarden has been summoned to appear in court Feb. 4.
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According to the criminal complaint, a Mower County deputy responded about 12:55 a.m. Dec. 29, 2006 to a car crash along Mower County Road 61, three miles north of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.
The deputy found a vehicle lying in the west ditch, with the driver Medgaarden unresponsive and partially ejected from the passenger window with his legs tangled behind the passenger seat, the complaint says. Authorities noticed a strong odor of alcohol.
Medgaarden was taken to Austin Medical Center.
Authorities found a glass pipe and small amount of marijuana in his pant pockets, the complaint says.
On Nov. 30, sheriff’s officials received Medgaarden’s medical records regarding the crash. The doctor who treated him reported that Medgaarden was under the influence of alcohol and tested positive for using marijuana and methamphetamine.
