{"id":73125,"date":"2026-11-12T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=73125"},"modified":"2026-11-12T06:39:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T12:39:35","slug":"lake-park-crash-leads-to-meth-and-dwi-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/lake-park-crash-leads-to-meth-and-dwi-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Park Crash Leads to Meth and DWI Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAKE PARK, Minn.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A 42-year-old Deer River man faces felony drug and misdemeanor DWI charges following a crash in Lake Park.<\/p>\n

Earl William Kennicutt Jr., of rural Deer River, was charged in Becker County District Court.<\/p>\n

He faces one felony count of fifth-degree drug possession and two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree driving while impaired.<\/p>\n

Early Morning Crash at Lake Park Cenex<\/h2>\n

According to court records, the investigation began shortly after 6:30 a.m. on July 2.<\/p>\n

A Minnesota state trooper and a Lake Park police officer responded to a vehicle collision at the Cenex station.<\/p>\n

Investigators identified Kennicutt as the driver of the vehicle allegedly responsible for the crash.<\/p>\n

Authorities reported that Kennicutt appeared confused and struggled to locate his vehicle insurance information.<\/p>\n

He was also visibly shaking and appeared to have difficulty staying focused, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

During questioning, Kennicutt allegedly admitted that he had rear-ended a pickup truck.<\/p>\n

Trooper Allegedly Discovers Methamphetamine<\/h2>\n

Following the investigation, authorities arrested Kennicutt on suspicion of driving while impaired.<\/p>\n

Officers subsequently searched his truck and reportedly discovered a closed glass container holding a white crystalline substance.<\/p>\n

According to court records, a preliminary field test indicated that the substance contained methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

The suspected drugs weighed approximately 3.9 grams.<\/p>\n

Investigators also obtained a urine sample from Kennicutt for chemical testing.<\/p>\n

Authorities reported that the sample later tested positive for both amphetamine and methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

Those findings were included in the court records supporting the criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\"Earl<\/a>
Earl William Kennicutt Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Felony Drug Charge and Two DWI Counts<\/h2>\n

Prosecutors filed a felony fifth-degree controlled substance charge against Kennicutt.<\/p>\n

He was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree DWI related to the July 2 incident.<\/p>\n

The allegations remain pending before Becker County District Court.<\/p>\n

A criminal charge is an accusation and does not establish guilt.<\/p>\n

Released Without Bail, December Hearing Scheduled<\/h2>\n

On November 5, Kennicutt was released without having to post bail.<\/p>\n

The court placed him under standard conditions of release while his criminal case continues.<\/p>\n

His next scheduled court appearance is December 21 before District Judge Michelle Lawson.<\/p>\n

The case remains pending, and no conviction was reported in the provided court information.<\/p>\n

Additional information about Minnesota court proceedings is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Deer River man faces felony drug and misdemeanor DWI charges after a Lake Park crash. Police allegedly found methamphetamine in his truck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73126,"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":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[913,11029,883,10237,7661],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[29494,29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-73125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-becker-county","tag-drug-charges","tag-dwi","tag-lake-park","tag-traffic-crash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73125","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=73125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73127,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73125\/revisions\/73127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73125"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=73125"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=73125"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=73125"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=73125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}