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Carlton Troutman Charged In Edina Hit-And-Run Case

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Michigan man has been charged in the hit-and-run case which injured a 17-year-old Edina high schooler.

Carlton Troutman, 26, has been charged with assault in the second degree in Hennepin County.

According to the criminal complaint, on the morning of Jan. 23, officers responded to the intersection of France Ave. and Halifax Ave. in Edina. They learned a girl, Kayla Avant, had been struck by car as she was boarding the school bus.

Eyewitnesses reported that the school bus approached the stop where kids were lined up on the right side of the street. However, a black sedan drove around the right side of the bus, on to the shoulder of the road, hitting Avant. She was pushed onto the hood of the car and thrown approximately 50 feet.

READ MORE: 'I Thought I Was Safe': For First Time, Edina Student In Hit-And-Run Shares Her Story

Officers examined the surveillance video from the bus, which corroborated the eyewitnesses' reports.

The Edina officers were later able to identify the car - a 2018 Chevy Malibu - registered to a man in Edina. The man had filed a stolen vehicle report with the Minneapolis Police that same morning. However, the Minneapolis Police had located the car and gave the man a ride to retrieve it before the Edina Police connected the car to the incident.

The car was recovered on Jan. 28 in Mankato, after receiving more than 25 tips from the public.

Investigators continued to speak with witnesses who said there were three men inside the car when it hit Avant.

Police then spoke to the owner of the Chevy Malibu, who said that the night before the incident, he drove the car from Mankato to Minneapolis with Troutman and another man to pick someone up from the train station. The four of them drove to a house in southwest Minneapolis. The owner of the Malibu got out of the car and went inside the house for the night, leaving the car with the three men.

When he woke up the next morning, he saw his car was missing and called one of the men he had left it with. The man told him Troutman had "hit a kid." Then, the owner admitted he made a false stolen vehicle report to cover up Troutman's criminal behavior.

According to one of the occupants of the car, when Troutman woke up in the car, realizing the owner had slept inside, he began driving. He said Troutman was angry, erratic and "cold-blooded."

The other man added Troutman had said, "anyone can get it: kids, mothers, babies." According to him, Troutman had hit Avant intentionally.

Troutman then called the Edina Police and spoke with an investigator over the phone, admitting the he was in the car. However he claimed loss of memory when asked anything about the incident.

According to documents, Troutman attempted to threaten the lives of the other three men in order to prevent them from cooperating with law enforcement.

If charged, Troutman could face a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison.

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