By Lori EhdeA woman and her 14-year-old son are recovering at home in Lexington, Ken., from serious injuries they received in an Aug. 6 accident on I-90 near Luverne.The man who allegedly rear-ended their mobile home and fled the scene was arrested 30 miles away that night and was charged with several counts of felony driving while impaired and criminal vehicular injury.Before facing those charges in Rock County District Court, however, 32-year-old Abel Snell, Windom, posted bail and left the state.Snell, who has a long felony record, was arrested Aug. 16 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., on charges of "endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon."He served jail time there on those charges, and Wisconsin officials returned him to Luverne on Rock County’s warrant.He appeared Monday in Rock County District Court, where Assistant County Attorney Terry Vajgrt requested Snell be held without bond while awaiting trial.He is scheduled for his next hearing on Oct. 18.Snell is charged in Rock County with 13 felony counts and nine gross misdemeanor counts. The most serious charge, first-degree driving while impaired, carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, a $14,000 fine or both.The other counts of criminal vehicular injury were related to causing "great bodily harm," "substantial bodily harm" and "bodily harm."The Aug. 6 accident sent a 2004 model 28-foot motor home into the median a few miles west of Luverne. A family from Lexington, Ken., was involved in the accident, which happened around 10:30 p.m.Fourteen-year-old Steven Barnett was airlifted from the scene to Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, with internal injuries, including a lacerated liver and injury to his lungs.His mother, 39-year-old Dayna Barnett, was taken by ambulance to Luverne Community Hospital and then airlifted to Sioux Falls. She suffered multiple injuries including a shattered pelvis, broken back, lacerated liver and kidney, broken eye socket and multiple external injuries.She underwent surgery to stabilize her condition to transport her to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester.Her husband, 40-year-old Mark Barnett refused treatment for head and facial cuts, and their other two sons, Christopher, 12, and Michael, 16, were treated at the Luverne hospital and released.The motor home driver, Mark Barnett told officers he was traveling eastbound in the right-hand lane with his cruise control set at 65 mph when the accident happened.He said the back of the motor home suddenly whipped to the right, causing the vehicle to enter the median and roll.Barnett said he had not seen a vehicle coming up behind him prior to the impact.Snell was not injured and his 1998 GMC pickup received moderate front-end damage, including a length of plastic bug deflector that was later used specifically to tie him to the scene.According to the complaint, witnesses told state troopers they saw a white pickup or SUV leave the accident scene and head east.The Minnesota Highway Patrol alerted Worthington authorities to watch for the vehicle, and at about 11 p.m. city officers there reported they’d found the vehicle. Officers noted front-end damage on the pickup, and it was missing a piece of plastic bug deflector strip that later matched the one found at the accident scene.Snell was reportedly driving erratically and acting intoxicated, and officers recovered numerous containers of beer from his pickup.A blood sample was sent to the BCA lab in St. Paul to test its alcohol content.His driving history shows two DWI convictions in 1998 and another in 2000. His driving privileges were revoked in June this year.
