A Michigan man is accused of deliberately driving onto the curb and striking and injuring a teenage girl as she boarded a school bus in Edina in January to prove that he had the capacity to kill, according to charges filed in Hennepin County.
After striking the girl and fleeing the scene, Carlton Duke Troutman told passengers in the vehicle that “anyone can get it: kids, mothers, babies,” the complaint said.
The incident took place about 8 a.m. on Jan. 23 at the intersection of France Avenue and Halifax Avenue in Edina, MN. Officers responded to a report of a 17-year-old girl who was violently struck by a vehicle as she was boarding a school bus. The girl, later identified as Kyla Avant, was immediately treated by paramedics and then transferred to a hospital for her injuries.
Witnesses told police that a black sedan drove excessively fast behind the school bus, around the right side of the bus, and then onto the shoulder of the road where the children, including Avant and her brother, were beginning to board the school bus.
The vehicle was speeding and made no attempt to avoid hitting Avant, the complaint said. Avant was struck and was pushed onto the hood of the vehicle and then thrown about fifty feet from where she was struck. The vehicle then fled the scene.
Edina police learned later that shortly after the incident, the registered owner reported to Minneapolis police that the vehicle had been stolen from a residence on the 5000 block of Ewing Avenue South in Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police found the vehicle in Edina and returned it to the owner before Edina police could make the vehicle’s connection to the hit and run incident.
On January 28, the suspect vehicle was recovered in Mankato, MN, and police eventually identified the registered owner of the vehicle. After speaking to the owner and witnesses, police identified the occupants of the vehicle at the time of the hit and run as Troutman and two other adult males.
The vehicle’s owner said that he left Troutman and the others in the running vehicle when he went inside the Ewing Avenue address to meet with a female acquaintance and that he fell asleep inside the residence. When he awoke, the vehicle was gone, the complaint said.
One of the occupants of the vehicle eventually called the car’s owner and told him that Troutman had done some “dumb sh-t” and “hit a kid.” That’s when the vehicle’s owner falsely reported the vehicle stolen.
One of the vehicle occupants, identified as A.M., subsequently told police that when the three woke up in the vehicle around 8 a.m., Troutman was upset at having been left in the vehicle and began driving.
A.M. said that Troutman was angry and driving erratically and soon approached the school bus and swerved to the right of the bus and accelerated and struck the girl. A.M. told police he believed Troutman hit the girl on purpose and described Troutman’s actions as “cold-blooded.”
The other occupant of the vehicle, identified as D.S., told police that he and A.M. screamed at Troutman to stop as he approached the bus. D.S. said that Troutman sped up and pointed the vehicle at the children outside the bus. D.S. told police that he thought it was Troutman’s attempt to show them that he had the capacity to kill someone.
At some point after being driven to Mankato by the vehicle’s owner, Troutman called Edina police and admitted that he’d been in the vehicle, but claimed he had no memory of the incident.
Troutman, 26, of Flint, Mich., has been charged with one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and there is currently a Hennepin County warrant for his arrest. If convicted, the complaint states that he could face up to seven years in prison.
Records show that Troutman has several convictions in Michigan including two for second-degree home invasion and another for conducting criminal enterprise. Records show that Troutman is currently in custody in Michigan.
It’s been reported that Avant left the hospital with no major injuries and continued her recovery at home.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
