WILLMAR - A 21-year-old Willmar man made his first appearance Monday for allegedly taking two strangers on a wild, drunken ride and, after they escaped, attempting to run over them and chasing them on foot.
Carlos Javier Miranda-Martinez faces five felony charges: two counts of second-degree assault, one count of fourth-degree assault, and two counts of false imprisonment. He also faces misdemeanor charges that include driving while impaired.
The complaint filed in Kandiyohi County District Court in Willmar alleges that he offered to give two individuals a ride to their homes around 4:24 a.m. March 4 from the Super America in Willmar. The male and female told police that Mirana-Martinez took off with them in a van at a high rate of speed, drove erratically and refused their pleas to stop and let them out. They told police that he began drinking windshield washer fluid. When he stopped in a parking lot, he locked the doors but the two were able to escape.
The complaint stated that he attempted to hit the individuals with his vehicle, coming very close to hitting the male. They began running through yards, and he allegedly chased them on foot but fled when he spotted a law enforcement officer.
Miranda-Martinez was subsequently apprehended and handcuffed, buckled and hobble-tied and placed in the back of a squad car. The complaint alleges that he began kicking, shaking and spitting at the officer and continued his disorderly conduct when delivered in restraints to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar. He was subsequently transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.
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Officers found a 1.75-liter bottle of rum in his vehicle and a one-gallon jug of windshield washer fluid missing one cup of liquid, according to the complaint. He had a 0.11 percent blood alcohol content when his blood was collected at HCMC at approximately 8:30 a.m. the next day, according to the criminal complaint.
