Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — A driver convicted of running down a group of university students near campus, killing one of them, has been sentenced in Hennepin County to 40 years in prison.
University of Minnesota senior Benjamin Van Handel, of Appleton, Wis., died from brain injuries six days after Tim Bakdash hit him with his car while Van Handel was walking in Dinkytown April 15, 2011. Two women, who were walking in a different group, were seriously injured.
The Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/HMnamq ) says a jury last month found the 29-year-old Roseville man guilty of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Bakdash admitted being the driver, but told jurors he was drunk and high and was just trying to scare a man who he believed had taunted him in a parking lot when he drove over a curb.