A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty in the death of his wife, who was killed after jumping from their moving pickup truck during an argument while he drove at least 50 mph.
Jeremy Micheal Davidson, 49, entered a guilty plea to first-degree driving while intoxicated in connection with the death of his 46-year-old wife, Melissa Davidson. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped separate criminal vehicular homicide charges. They intend to seek a three-year prison sentence when Davidson appears for sentencing on Dec. 17.
A criminal complaint states that officers were called out on Nov. 22 to what was described as a “possible motor vehicle accident” near County Road 17 and 310th Street in Sibley County, roughly 70 miles southwest of Minneapolis.
“The caller stated that his wife jumped out of the vehicle and was run over,” the complaint reads.
When officers arrived, they found a Dodge Ram pickup stopped at the scene with its engine still running, according to the complaint. Jeremy Davidson was discovered “laying on top of the vehicle” and had to be pulled off by law enforcement.
The complaint indicates his level of intoxication was apparent right away. “Law enforcement smelled the odor of alcoholic beverages coming from defendant and observed that defendant had slurred speech,” it states.
Davidson reportedly admitted to officers that he and his wife had both been drinking before he drove. According to the complaint, he said that as they headed home, his wife “got p—ed” and jumped from the truck after an altercation broke out between them, telling police she had started punching him.
He said he told her to stop, “and that is when she opened the door and jumped out of the truck,” the complaint states.
Davidson declined to take field sobriety tests at the scene, officials said, but became talkative once he was placed in a patrol car following his arrest. Squad car footage reportedly captured him repeatedly acknowledging what had happened.
“Prison. I am going to prison, she’s dead,” he allegedly said. “I killed my wife,” he added at another point.
He also seemed unable to process what led to the crash. “Just gets drunk, jumps out of a f—ing truck,” he said, according to the complaint. “Make it make sense.”
“One drunk dumb f—ing move,” he reportedly said as well, later adding: “I just killed my wife dude. I don’t know why the f— would you jump out of a truck doing f—ing 50 miles per hour. Why would you do that.”
At one point he appeared to plead for a way to reverse the outcome. “Bring her back,” he allegedly said. “I will go for life. Just bring my wife back.”
Melissa Davidson was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The complaint also notes that Jeremy Davidson had a prior felony DWI conviction from 2007.
