WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man turned suicidal while being booked into jail for a hit-and-run accident. He was rushed to hospital for evaluation. At the hospital, police left Jace Jeffrey Eggert, age 21, on a 72-hour hold. For Eggert it had been a rough night. Police took a call just before midnight that a GMC pickup had struck several parked cars near Third and Market streets in the downtown bar district and driven off. Officers followed a path of leaking fluid for eight blocks to the Winona State neighborhood. Up on a boulevard, police found the truck disabled and abandoned. This was about 1 a.m. Nobody was around but then, as they were preparing to tow te vehicle, police said, Eggert appeared from nowhere. Officers said he admitted to what had happened and took “full responsibility.” Police quoted him:
“I’m going to be honest with you. I’m as drunk as fuck right now and I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is that I’m as drunk as fuck. I should go to jail.”
On site, near and Center and Sabasha streets, Eggert’s blood-alcohol tested as 0.17% —twice the legal intoxication threshold. At jail, police said, as they began a second verification blood test, Eggert ripped off a neckpiece and began cutting himself with a jagged edge. He said he wanted to die, officers said. He was subdued and taken to the hospital emergency room. A doctor ordered a blood draw. Results could take several days from the state crime lab.