North Dakota suspect accused of running over elderly man three times with pickup truck in front of high school

A North Dakota man is accused of causing the horrific death of an elderly man near a high school in a hit-and-run incident witnessed by teachers and students, authorities said.

On March 23, police in Mandan, North Dakota, charged Wade Carlton Bison, 39, with murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving death, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and terrorizing, The Forum reported.

Two days prior, on March 21, surveillance video shows Erwin Geigle, 77, arrive at the All Seasons Arena at 7:22 a.m., exit his truck and walk toward the entrance, police said in an affidavit obtained by the outlet.

Minutes later, a white Ford F250 pickup truck “makes a sharp turn” and strikes the elderly man, the video allegedly shows, according to police.

A juvenile who witnessed the incident told officers Geigle was walking between the arena and Mandan High School when the white pickup truck rammed “a guy against the building” and then backed up and drove over the man again twice more, the affidavit states.

A second juvenile claimed the truck was going around 15 to 20 m.p.h. when it struck Geigle, according to the affidavit.

A parent at the high school told officers she was a nurse and tried to help Geigle, but the victim had suffered traumatic injuries, "including tire tread marks on his abdomen," and “she could not do anything for him at that time, indicating he was deceased,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Authorities did not indicate how or if the suspect and the victim had a connection.

Following the deadly incident, police released images of the suspect’s pickup truck to the public and received multiple reports of the vehicle’s whereabouts, The Forum reported.

Officers located the pickup truck towing a Chevrolet Blazer shortly before 9 a.m. the day of the incident and got into a vehicular pursuit, which ended with the suspect’s pickup colliding with a UPS truck and flipping into a ditch.

Bison, police said, attempted to walk away from the crash, but officers took him into custody.

According to court documents, investigators noted the driver’s side door and bumper of Bison’s vehicle were stained with what appeared to be blood and there was front-end damage to the truck.

The Forum reported that as the judge read Bison the charges against him during a March 23 appearance in South Central District Court, the defendant allegedly admitted his involvement in the incident and said, “I'm guilty of all charges, and that's all I'm going to say the rest of the meeting.”

Bison’s was being held on a $1.5 million bond.