Rosemount Man Being Retried in Fatal Apple Valley Hit-and-Run

A Rosemount man will be retried this fall on charges of leaving the scene of an accident in which he’s accused of hitting and killing a deaf woman in Apple Valley two years ago.

Eric James Hunter, 42, is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and driving with a suspended license in connection with the death of Joan LeVasseur, 26, in March 2009. His new trial is set to begin Oct. 3.

Hunter originally was tried on the charges last October. That trial ended when the jury was unable to reach a verdict and Dakota County Judge David Knutson declared a mistrial.

According to the complaint, authorities found an unconscious and bleeding LeVasseur lying in a crosswalk on Cedar Avenue in Apple Valley on March 6, 2009. She was hospitalized with head injuries, a fractured pelvis, fractures in both legs and injuries to her face.

Witnesses told police that they saw LeVasseur crossing the intersection of Cedar and 153rd Street against the traffic signal, which was displaying a “do not walk” light. They also told officers the vehicle that struck LeVasseur immediately left the scene.

Police began searching for a vehicle with heavy damage to the right front and windshield. Two days after the accident, an Apple Valley police detective went to Hunter’s home and found his 2003 Ford Focus with damage to the hood and the right front portion of the car. The right portion of the car’s windshield also had been extensively damaged and had been taped over with plastic, according to the complaint.

A subsequent investigation of the car by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension turned up blood in the fractured glass on the passenger side of the windshield. A sample of the blood was compared to LeVasseur’s DNA sample, and authorities determined that it was a match.

Police also interviewed Hunter’s coworkers, one of whom told them that he’d noticed the damage to Hunter’s car four days after the accident and asked if he’d hit someone. According to the coworker, Hunter answered, “Yes.”

Another employee told police that he’d spoken to Hunter on March 13, 2009, and Hunter told him that things were “going to get kind of weird around here.” The employee quoted Hunter as saying, “They are going to take that girl off life support.”

The employee asked Hunter if he’d hit LeVasseur; according to the complaint, Hunter admitted that he’d hit her, but that it was dark and he hadn’t seen her in the crosswalk.

Hunter’s driver’s license was suspended in October 2008 and remained suspended at the time of the accident, according to the complaint.

LeVasseur’s family took her off life support a week after the accident and donated her organs.