Man Charged With Hitting Couple Outside St. Paul Bar

ST. PAUL (AP) - Authorities say a driver who backed into a couple outside a St. Paul bar didn't wait for police to order him to the ground.

The complaint says 30-year-old Darnell Maurice Cooper of Minneapolis told officers: "I am the one you want. I was driving."  He then spontaneously lay down and put his hands in the air.

One victim told police he and his girlfriend were walking home Oct. 12 when they were knocked down by a car with no license plates. The 45-year-old woman needed emergency surgery for bleeding on the brain, a skull fracture and acute respiratory failure.

Cooper, whose blood alcohol level was 0.15 percent, was charged with criminal vehicular operation. He's free on bail and doesn't have a listed phone.