Man Charged With Striking Boy With Motorcycle, Fleeing
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A St. Paul man has been charged with striking a 4-year-old boy with his motorcycle and fleeing the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, 25-year-old Ernest Travis Jonas was driving the motorcycle after having his license revoked due to speeding tickets.
Jonas was arrested without incident in a hotel room in Shakopee on Sunday afternoon, roughly 24 hours after police asked for the public's help to find the man who struck 4-year-old Tyrell Baymon on the 300 block of LaFond Avenue near Western Avenue.
Baymon was holding his mother's hand at the time of the Saturday incident, as they were about to enter a vehicle to go to Como Park to celebrate his birthday.
The complaint says multiple witnesses saw Jonas speeding up and down the street of speeds in the vicinity of 60 miles per hour, despite being told to slow down. Witnesses also said they say him "popping wheelies" on his motorcycle.
"Not only did this man display a blatant disregard for pedestrian safety in our neighborhood, he fled the scene, leaving a child fighting for his life," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.
Officers found the boy in his mother's arms, "gurgling and gasping." Doctors performed emergency surgery on Tyrell that day for a fractured skull and broken ribs.
He was still listed in critical condition at Gillette Children's Hospital on Monday.
Jonas is currently being held at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center.
