{"id":23498,"date":"2026-03-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=23498"},"modified":"2026-03-23T06:23:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:23:48","slug":"bemidji-man-charged-in-felony-dwi-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-man-charged-in-felony-dwi-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Man Charged In Felony DWI Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bemidji<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) Derek James Hunt<\/strong> has been charged in Beltrami County after a vehicle struck Lakes Liquor in Bemidji, according to a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the crash happened around 12:30 p.m. on November 10, 2025. It says a tan GMC Yukon drove over a parking barrier and hit a wooden beam that supported an awning outside the business on Irvine Avenue Northwest. The beam was broken and fell to the ground, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

What the complaint says happened<\/h2>\n

According to the complaint, surveillance video showed a man driving the Yukon. A woman was also in the vehicle. The complaint says the SUV left the scene soon after the impact.<\/p>\n

Investigators later tracked the Yukon to a used car lot on Fairgrounds Road. The vehicle owner told law enforcement the SUV had just returned from a test drive, the complaint says. Authorities then went to a home in Beltrami County and found Derek James Hunt there.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Hunt told authorities he had a broken ankle and that caused him to hit the post. The filing also says his driver\u2019s license was canceled as inimical to public safety.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, a preliminary breath test showed an alcohol concentration of 0.0. The filing says Hunt showed signs that led investigators to suspect drug impairment. The complaint says a search warrant was obtained for a urine sample.<\/p>\n

Charges filed in court<\/h2>\n

Hunt is charged with first-degree DWI and driving after cancellation. The felony DWI count alleges his body contained a Schedule I or II controlled substance, or its metabolite, other than marijuana. The second count is a gross misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

The complaint also points to a prior felony DWI conviction from 2016. It lists several other past convictions, including drug, fleeing, theft, and driving-after-cancellation offenses.<\/p>\n

What comes next<\/h2>\n

The case was filed in Beltrami County District Court. A complaint is only an accusation. The charges must still be proven in court.<\/p>\n

Readers can review the official Minnesota DWI law<\/a>, the driving after cancellation statute<\/a>, search public records through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>, or visit the Beltrami County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Bemidji
Bemidji Man Charged In Felony DWI Case<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bemidji (trfnews.i234.me) Derek James Hunt has been charged in Beltrami County after a vehicle struck Lakes Liquor in Bemidji, according to a criminal complaint. The complaint says the crash happened around 12:30 p.m. on November 10, 2025. It says a tan GMC Yukon drove over a parking barrier and hit a wooden beam that supported… Continue reading Bemidji Man Charged In Felony DWI Case<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[14789,1224,15473,871,770,772,15480,2891,883,961,15481,151,14700],"class_list":["post-23498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-beltrami-county-charges","tag-bemidji","tag-bemidji-felony-dwi","tag-case","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-derek-james-hunt","tag-driving-after-cancellation","tag-dwi","tag-felony","tag-lakes-liquor-crash","tag-man","tag-minnesota-dwi-complaint","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23504,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23498\/revisions\/23504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}