Man charged after NDDOT worker seriously injured by vehicle ignoring traffic signs

CASSELTON, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Charles Debolt Hart of White Bear Lake has been charged with a misdemeanor of aggravated reckless driving after he’s accused of hitting a NDDOT worker on I-94.

He’s scheduled for an arraignment August 11.

North Dakota Highway Patrol says the employees with NDDOT were working on a cable median barrier on I-94 west bound near mile marker 335. Authorities say the left westbound lane was closed, and traffic was being alerted by three advanced warning signs to the road work and lane closure.

An additional DOT truck with attenuator trailer, along with an arrow board, was blocking the left lane of I-94 where the roadwork was happening to provide safety to the DOT workers. The plow had an arrow board. Another DOT pickup truck was in front of the plow with an additional arrow board to alert traffic to the road work being done to the median barrier.

Authorities say a westbound traveling Cadilac Escalade being operated by 62-year-old Charles Hart of White Bear Lake, Minn., disregarded the advanced warning signs and failed to move out of the left lane. The Escalade struck the back of the plow with the attenuator, and authorities say the Escalade then traveled west and struck the DOT pickup in front of the plow.

The Escalade entered the median and pinned one of the DOT workers against the cable median barrier, authorities say. The DOT worker has been identified as 46-year-old Ryan Jamieson, and authorities say he sustained serious injuries. Jamieson was freed from the median barrier by another DOT worker and was transported to the Sanford Hospital.

A juvenile passenger in the Cadillac sustained minor injuries.