A volunteer public safety chaplain in Eden Prairie is under investigation by the Minnesota State Patrol in connection with a hit-and-run on Aug. 21 that left a 2-year-old girl critically injured, city officials said Friday.
The city said a search warrant made public Friday acknowledged the State Patrol’s investigation into the chaplain. The individual named in the warrant is not currently volunteering while the inquiry continues.
The crash occurred about 8:20 p.m. at Mitchell Road and Chestnut Drive, where a vehicle struck 27-year-old Spogmai Kamawal and two of her children. Her daughter Somaia, 2, remained in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center as of Sept. 2. Kamawal and another child were treated and released, while two older siblings walking ahead were not injured.
The city reported on Aug. 25 that the case had been transferred to the State Patrol. But a search-warrant affidavit shows Eden Prairie police asked the agency to take over three days earlier, after a possible suspect connected to the department reported his involvement, prompting the handoff to avoid a conflict of interest.
The filing states that investigators met with a 63-year-old Eden Prairie resident whose vehicle showed fresh damage consistent with debris recovered at the scene. He told investigators that a little after 8 p.m. on Aug. 21, while driving north on Mitchell Road, he was distracted by a text message on his phone. After opening the application and reading the message, he “heard a bump.”
He could not provide his exact location when he heard it. He admitted he did not stop to see what he hit, later cut off his damaged mirror, and never called 911 to report the crash, according to the warrant.
The man’s vehicle and cellphone were seized as evidence and remain under review by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the State Patrol.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include details from a search-warrant affidavit that were not available when the story was first published by Eden Prairie Local News.