Man Sentenced For Running Over Wife With Vehicle While Drunk

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnetonka Beach man has been sentenced to a four-year stayed prison sentence after being found guilty of criminal vehicular homicide in the death of his wife.

On July 24, 2014, he and his were just getting home, but stopped the car to get the mail. He said that he didn't know she had gotten out of the car. He made a left-hand turn into their driveway and heard her yell that he was running her over.

When paramedics arrived, 57-year-old Diane Rawlings Meder told them that it had been an accident. She was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center, where she later died.

Officers noted a strong smell of alcohol from David Meder, and tests indicated he had been operating the motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.155.

"His selfish and reckless behavior caused the death of his wife," Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Sarah Hilleren said. "He has, from the beginning, blamed his wife. He was drunk and he killed his wife. A sober person would have acted differently."

The county attorney's office reported that Meder hired experts to help him figure out how he couldn't have seen her in the driveway.

"The idea that somehow I don't accept responsibility for my wife's death is preposterous. It's a room I live in every day. It eats at my spirit," he said.

The verdict against David Christopher Meder was handed down last July.

Provided Meder abides by the terms of his probation for 10 years, he will avoid serving time in prison. The terms list 24 points, including submitting to DNA samples, using no alcohol or controlled substances, obtaining and keeping a job or education, and not possessing a firearm.

His sentencing requires he serve 240 days at the Hennepin County Workhouse.