{"id":47004,"date":"2026-09-06T05:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=47004"},"modified":"2026-09-06T05:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:54:28","slug":"crookston-smagala-booked-in-fatal-highway-75-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/crookston-smagala-booked-in-fatal-highway-75-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Crookston: Smagala Booked in Fatal Highway 75 Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Crookston: Smagala Booked in Fatal Highway 75 Case<\/h2>\n

CROOKSTON, Minn. <\/strong>(trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Jacob Alexander Smagala, 23, was booked into custody on Sept. 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

The Northwest Regional Corrections Center roster lists a felony criminal vehicular homicide charge against Smagala.<\/p>\n

The jail entry cites Minnesota Statute 609.21, subdivision 1(4).<\/p>\n

The listed allegation involves an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher within two hours of driving.<\/p>\n

Fatal Highway 75 Crash<\/h2>\n

The booking followed a fatal rollover reported early Sept. 3 in Norman County.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota State Patrol said the crash happened around 3:40 a.m.<\/p>\n

It occurred on Highway 75 near mile marker 276 in Lee Township.<\/p>\n

A 1999 Oldsmobile Alero was traveling north when it lost control and rolled into a ditch.<\/p>\n

Smagala was identified by the State Patrol as the driver.<\/p>\n

The patrol listed his residence as Plainfield, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Smagala suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Ada Hospital.<\/p>\n

The crash report says he was wearing a seat belt.<\/p>\n

At the time of the report, alcohol involvement for Smagala was listed as pending.<\/p>\n

Readers can view the\u00a0Minnesota State Patrol crash report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Passenger Died at Scene<\/h2>\n

The passenger was identified as 19-year-old Bain Alexzander Elhard of Halstad.<\/p>\n

The State Patrol listed Elhard’s injuries as fatal.<\/p>\n

The report says Elhard was not wearing a seat belt.<\/p>\n

Road conditions were listed as dry.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\n

Jacob Alexander Smagala | Northwest Regional Corrections Center booking photo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The patrol described the incident as a fatal crash involving an unrestrained occupant.<\/p>\n

Criminal Vehicular Homicide Charge<\/h2>\n

The jail roster lists Smagala’s controlling charge as criminal vehicular homicide or operation.<\/p>\n

It references an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more within two hours of driving.<\/p>\n

The roster uses the citation 609.21.1(4).<\/p>\n

Minnesota renumbered that criminal vehicular homicide provision in 2014.<\/p>\n

The current equivalent appears in
\nMinnesota Statute 609.2112<\/a>, subdivision 1(4).<\/p>\n

Current law covers deaths caused while driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher.<\/p>\n

It also covers that concentration when measured within two hours of driving.<\/p>\n

A conviction under the current statute can carry up to ten years in prison.<\/p>\n

The law also allows a fine of up to $20,000.<\/p>\n

Those are maximum penalties and do not represent a sentence in Smagala’s case.<\/p>\n

Booking Recorded in Crookston<\/h2>\n

The Northwest Regional Corrections Center is located at 816 Marin Avenue in Crookston.<\/p>\n

Tri-County Community Corrections operates the facility.<\/p>\n

The agency provides correctional services for Polk, Norman, and Red Lake counties.<\/p>\n

Readers can view the\u00a0official NWRCC jail roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Facility information is available from the\u00a0Northwest Regional Corrections Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charge remains an allegation unless proven in court.<\/p>\n

A jail booking does not establish guilt.<\/p>\n

Further court filings may provide additional details about the case.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for\u00a0TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacob Alexander Smagala, 23, was booked in Crookston after a fatal Highway 75 rollover in Norman County, according to official records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47005,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_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":[16518],"tags":[24502,7442,3073,24501,24499,24500,12194,15434,13812,16683,786],"class_list":["post-47004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recently-booked","tag-bain-alexzander-elhard","tag-criminal-vehicular-homicide","tag-crookston-mn","tag-highway-75-crash","tag-jacob-alexander-smagala","tag-jacob-smagala","tag-minnesota-fatal-crash","tag-norman-county-crash","tag-nwrcc","tag-polk-county-jail","tag-trf-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47004","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=47004"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47007,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47004\/revisions\/47007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}