Driver sentenced to 16 years for hitting Army recruiters

A Ramsey County judge sentenced a Minneapolis man to nearly 16 years in prison today for the hit-and-run of two U.S. Army recruiters outside a mall.

Enrico Taylor, who was driving a Jeep SUV, struck the two men near Rosedale Mall last September, authorities said. Taylor, 53, pleaded guilty in November to assault and criminal vehicular operation.

Both men survived. Authorities say one of the victims was stuck under Enrico Taylor's Jeep SUV for almost a mile. The other rolled over the top of the vehicle but was largely uninjured.

"We're just so grateful that lives weren't lost in this case," prosecutor John Cho said. "Given what happened — you're underneath the car and the car is moving, worse things could have happened but they didn't."

Choi said Taylor showed blatant disregard for the lives of both men, and the outcome could have been worse. He said Taylor stopped briefly and tried to free the victim from under the vehicle, but was unsuccessful and kept driving.

"The outrageous part of this is that he keeps going and he knows that there's someone underneath the vehicle," Choi said.

He said Taylor will likely serve about two-thirds of the sentence in prison and the rest on supervised release.