PINE CITY, Minn. — A high-profile Twin Cities personal injury attorney was sentenced Wednesday to four years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to striking a road worker with his vehicle while under the influence.
James Patrick Carey pleaded guilty back in June to a single charge of gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation involving bodily harm while driving under the influence. As part of the plea, Carey will avoid serving any additional jail time, and will instead be under supervised probation until Sept. 4, 2028. He was also ordered to pay a $900 fine.
State Troopers were dispatched on Oct. 6, 2023 after reports that a vehicle had struck a pedestrian on the shoulder of Interstate 35 near mile marker 182 in Pine County. A trooper found a road worker who said he was removing construction cones and walking along the left shoulder of the northbound lanes when he was hit.
The trooper surveyed the accident scene and saw tire marks that appeared to show a driver had made a steering correction from the shoulder back into the pavement. There were also pieces from a side mirror that were traced to a 2016 GMC Acadia.
A witness on scene told investigators she was driving in the construction zone on I-35 when a vehicle in front of her tried to pass slower traffic by going on the shoulder, and that she saw that vehicle strike a construction worker. Another witness shared a similar story.
The vehicle that struck the worker did not stop but left the scene and headed north. Prosecutors say a Carlton County deputy located a 2016 GMC Acadia at mile marker 217 that was missing its driver-side mirror. The driver was later identified as Carey. Responding law enforcement reported that Carey's eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and he smelled of alcohol.
Field testing indicated Carey was impaired, and a breath test put his blood alcohol level at .143, well over the legal limit.
Carey reportedly told the trooper he knew he had hit something in the construction zone but "thought he had hit an orange sign." The trooper says Carey said he had not been sleeping for a few days due to a death in the family and that he had taken sleeping pills. He allegedly told the trooper he had three glasses of wine the previous day.
When contacted about the incident, a spokesperson for the firm of SiebenCarey released the following statement.
"We are deeply saddened to hear of this incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured worker, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We are working our way through the facts as they become available, but our primary concern remains for the well-being of all involved."
The worker was treated at a hospital in Sandstone for severe bruising and swelling on the arm where he was struck.
