by Debra Heine
The North Dakota man who admitted to running over 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson with an SUV after a political argument earlier this month, is not under house arrest and has no curfew, Fox News reported.
Shannon Brandt, 41, was released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond on Sept. 20 after he fatally hit Ellington with his vehicle following a street dance at a local bar in McHenry, North Dakota.
According to court documents, the incident happened at around 2:35 a.m. on Sept. 18, and Brandt initially fled the scene. He later called 911 and and told the operator that he hit Ellingson following a “political argument” because he believed that the teenager was part of a “Republican extremist group,” and the teen was calling people to “go after” him. Ellingson, as the affidavit states, had called his mother for help.
The grievously injured Ellingson was taken to a local hospital where he later died.
Law enforcement arrested Brandt at his home. Police reportedly found “disturbances of the dirt on the hood and front end of the 2003 Ford Explorer” and other damage to the car at Brandt’s residence. A North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper said in a court filing that Brandt “admitted to striking someone he never met with his vehicle” and then left the area.
Police said the 41-year-old admitted to consuming alcohol prior to the incident, and the results of a breathalyzer test showed were above the legal limit.
North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind told reporters there is “no evidence” suggesting that Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group.”
Court documents obtained by Fox News Digital show that Brandt was not placed under house arrest and has no curfew after posting bond. Under the terms of Brandt’s bail order, he cannot leave North Dakota, cannot drink alcohol and must participate in a 24/7 sobriety program with constant testing.
Brandt is also not allowed to possess “a firearm, destructive device, or other dangerous weapon” and cannot go within 300 feet of the Ellingson family.
Brandt has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide, which has a 20 year maximum sentence, and criminal failure to report an accident that involves injury or death, which has a 10 year maximum sentence.
A judge ordered that be held on $50,000, but Brandt objected to that, saying he was not a flight risk.
“I have a job, a life and a house and things I don’t want to see go by the wayside — family that are very important to me,” he told the judge.
He was released last Tuesday after posting bond.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neama Rahman told Fox News that Brandt’s bond was a “low amount” and “woefully inadequate.”
“Yeah, it’s a low amount, no question. Whenever you’re dealing with a vehicular manslaughter case, that’s low in general,” Rahman said.
Brandt’s deadly attack followed Joe Biden’s prime time speech three weeks prior excoriating Republican extremists as a “threat to this country.”
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,” Biden declared during his infamous “red sermon” on September 1. Biden framed his speech at Philadelphia‘s Independence National Historical Park as a “battle for the soul of the nation.”
Biden accused Republican “extremists” of “promoting authoritarian leaders, and fanning “the flames of political violence.”
“They are a threat to our personal rights and to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the vert soul of this country,” Biden declared.
Biden told his supporters that they have the power “to stop the assault on American Democracy.”
“We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on Democracy,” he said.
The speech was seen by many to be a dog-whistle to violent leftists, giving them permission to attack Biden’s political opponents.
Over 100 people attended Ellingson’s funeral Monday afternoon, and remembered the teenager as someone who was “Kind, smart, and big-hearted person.”
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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Background Photo “Courtroom” by Sadmir Kanovicki.
