Austin woman dead, suspect in custody after hit-and-run accident in southeast Austin late Friday evening

An Austin woman is dead and a suspect is in custody after a fatal hit-and-run accident in southeast Austin late Friday evening.

Officers from the Austin Police Department responded at approximately 11:18 p.m. Friday evening to a report of a person lying in the roadway on Oakland Place SE near Oakland Avenue SE.  Chief of Police Dave McKichan stated in a news release that officers arrived on the scene and rendered CPR to 41-year old Melissa Rack of Austin, who was not breathing and did not have a pulse.  Chief McKichan stated that debris and other evidence indicated that a vehicle had struck Rack.  Mayo Ambulance took over life-saving efforts, but Rack was later declared deceased.

McKichan went on to report that the vehicle and the driver who had struck Rack were not on the scene, and using debris and a witness statement, Chief McKichan stated that officers canvassed the area and located the suspect vehicle, with damage consistent with the crash scene, in the driveway of a residence in the 1700 block of 1st Ave. SE.  Officers made contact with 35-year old Darin Finley of Austin at the residence, and McKichan stated that as a result of the investigation into the fatality, Finley was taken into custody on probable cause for violating Minnesota’s criminal vehicular homicide statute.

Finley was placed in the Mower County jail, where he is currently awaiting his first court hearing, and Chief McKichan added that charges are pending a review of the case by the Mower County Attorney’s Office.