{"id":23977,"date":"2026-03-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=23977"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T20:25:03","slug":"bemidji-woman-charged-after-crash-with-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-woman-charged-after-crash-with-child\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Woman Charged After Crash With Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Bemidji woman is facing a gross misdemeanor DWI charge after a crash involving a young child, according to a criminal complaint filed in Beltrami County.<\/p>\n

Crash and charge<\/h2>\n

Court records identify the defendant as Karin Lynn Fairbanks<\/strong>, 59, of Bemidji. The charge stems from a March 23, 2026, crash in Bemidji. The case was filed in Minnesota\u2019s 9th Judicial District.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the crash happened at about 11:10 a.m. near 4501 Birchmont Drive NE. A caller, Kyle Redland, told police he saw a vehicle go over a curb and down a hill. He estimated the speed at about 50 mph. He also reported hearing a child scream.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the people inside the vehicle left the scene before officers arrived. The caller said he then saw a woman and a child walking away from the crash.<\/p>\n

\"Karin
Karin Lynn Fairbanks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What the complaint says<\/h2>\n

The complaint says officers found Fairbanks on Thorson Boulevard NE. A child, identified in court records as K.B., was found nearby. The child was later taken by ambulance for facial abrasions, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

Investigators wrote that Fairbanks appeared drowsy and had watery eyes. The complaint also says she had an unsteady gait. Fairbanks told police she was taking the child to school when a dog crossed the road. She said she swerved to avoid it.<\/p>\n

The filing says officers saw dry and clear road conditions. It also says Fairbanks could not complete field sobriety tests in a satisfactory way.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, officers later found an unlabeled pill bottle with pills identified as gabapentin, buprenorphine hydrochloride\/naloxone, and lorazepam. Court records say Fairbanks was taken to Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, where a blood sample was obtained under a search warrant.<\/p>\n

Case status<\/h2>\n

Fairbanks is charged under Minnesota\u2019s DWI law with a gross misdemeanor count involving an alleged combination of substances and an aggravating factor. The complaint notes her driving privileges were valid at the time listed in the filing.<\/p>\n

As with all criminal cases, the charge is an allegation. Guilt must be proven in court. More information on the case may be available through the Beltrami County District Court<\/a>. Minnesota\u2019s DWI statute can be viewed through the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes<\/a>. Sanford Bemidji Medical Center information is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Bemidji woman is facing a gross misdemeanor DWI charge after a crash involving a young child, according to a criminal complaint filed in Beltrami County. Crash and charge Court records identify the defendant as Karin Lynn Fairbanks, 59, of Bemidji. The charge stems from a March 23, 2026, crash in… Continue reading Bemidji Woman Charged After Crash With Child<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23979,"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":[346,1212,1224,15418,10084,770,15723,1122,998,772,10915,15722,5231,786,93,620],"class_list":["post-23977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-after","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji","tag-bemidji-crash","tag-bemidji-dwi","tag-charged","tag-child-injured-crash","tag-child","tag-crash","tag-crime","tag-gross-misdemeanor-dwi","tag-karin-lynn-fairbanks","tag-minnesota-court-complaint","tag-trf-news","tag-with","tag-woman","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23977","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=23977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23987,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23977\/revisions\/23987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}