A northeastern Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party official is charged with vehicular homicide after allegedly hitting and killing a pedestrian July 3 before driving away. The Minnesota State Patrol previously identified the victim as Carter John Haithcock, 19, of Goodland, Minn. Cynthia Arlene Martin, 64, of Grand Rapids, was charged Tuesday in Itasca County District Court in Grand Rapids. Martin had been serving as the chair of the DFL’s 8th Congressional District, but Lee Cutler said Thursday he is now the unit’s acting chair. “Cyndy Martin is no longer the chair of the DFL 8th Congressional District,” Culter said in a statement to the Duluth News Tribune. “I am the current acting chair. I have no further statement at this time on this private legal matter.” According to the criminal complaint, Martin was driving south on U.S. 169 near Nashwauk when she allegedly struck Haithcock at 11:17 p.m. Martin, who was on the phone when the collision occurred, told the person she spoke with, “Oh my God, I hit something.” The person she was speaking to told and texted Martin to call 911. Martin called the person back “and told him that there was nothing wrong with her vehicle and something only hit her windshield, so she did not call 911,” the complaint said. Martin said she thought she hit an animal. Martin did not report the collision to police until 5:54 a.m. July 4, when she called 911 to report “she may have been involved in the accident near Nashwauk,” the complaint said. Martin agreed to provide a statement to law enforcement and said she spent July 3 walking in parades in Aurora and Gilbert before having dinner at the Sawmill Saloon in Mountain Iron and driving home at 10:30 p.m. Martin told law enforcement that she hit something, like an owl or turkey, while driving in the left lane of Highway 169 through Nashwauk, but did not stop, the complaint said. At approximately 11:17 p.m. July 3, a man driving on Highway 169 near Nashwauk called 911 to report there was a man’s body lying in the left lane. While pulled over with hazard lights activated, the reporting party told dispatch on the phone that another vehicle appeared and ran over the body. The driver of that vehicle told law enforcement they switched lanes to avoid the reporting party’s vehicle on the shoulder but could not stop in time once they saw the body in the left lane, according to the complaint. Officers, who arrived on the scene at 11:22 p.m., found no damage to the third driver’s vehicle, and, based on that and the debris field, believed a separate vehicle hit the victim before the reporting party found the body. The victim, Haithcock, had “extensive injuries.” First responders declared him dead at the scene, the complaint said. Officers found a part in the debris field they determined belonged to a 1999-2006 General Motors vehicle. Martin drove a 2005 GMC Yukon, the complaint said. Surveillance footage shows Martin’s undamaged vehicle entering the Sawmill parking lot at 8:43 p.m. and a camera at the Sinclair gas station in Nashwauk shows a dark SUV pulling over near the crash site at about 11:17 p.m. and stopping for approximately 25 seconds before continuing, according to the complaint. The reporting party who found the body in the left lane called 911 less than a minute after Martin is believed to have struck Haithcock, the complaint said. The complaint said a camera showed Martin’s vehicle entering Grand Rapids at 11:40 p.m. with only one operational headlight. A sergeant with the Minnesota State Patrol inspected Martin’s vehicle and found blood and significant damage on the vehicle’s front passenger side, including a “broken out” headlight. “Additionally, a small, torn piece of fabric was found caught in the hood of the vehicle,” the complaint said. “This piece of fabric was consistent with the sweatshirt worn by (Haithcock).” Crash data from Martin’s vehicle shows she was traveling at 59 mph, below the 65 mph speed limit, 8 seconds before the crash. She applied the brakes one second before hitting Haithcock. The collision threw Haithcock’s body 138 feet, the complaint said. A sample of Martin’s blood tested by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found “negative results for all tested substances,” and surveillance footage inside the Sawmill shows Martin did not consume alcohol with dinner, the complaint said. Haithcock had spent the evening at the Nashwauk street dance on July 3 but decided to walk home at 10:50 p.m. after arguing with a “former romantic partner,” the complaint said. On July 8, a witness called the sergeant at the State Patrol to report he had seen someone walking in the middle of the left lane of Highway 169 at 11:15 p.m. July 3, about 2 minutes before Martin allegedly struck Haithcock. The caller said “that he had nearly hit the individual, and they would have been difficult to see in the dark,” according to the complaint. 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