Bismarck Tribune

Eugene Smith Jr., 40, of New Town, pleaded not guilty Monday at a preliminary hearing to charges related to a hit-and-run in Mandan.

Smith is accused of driving a vehicle that hit 22-year-old Crystal Alyea of Mandan on April 19.

Alyea was walking through the Colonial Lounge parking lot at 4631 Memorial Highway to pick up a friend shortly after the bar closed early that Saturday morning when she was hit by a green truck.

She recounted her injuries during Monday's hearing, saying the injuries required three to four hours of surgery to reattach both her ears and sew her jaw back together.

Alyea also said she sustained fractured ribs, bleeding kidneys and loss of the skin from her upper right shoulder to her mid thigh.

Her right arm and shoulder are permanently disfigured, she has no sensation and cannot move the right side of her face, she said.

"I do remember him walking to the truck; I heard the truck revving up," Alyea said, but she said she couldn't recall much else. "I woke up in the hospital, seriously injured."

Although Alyea does not remember much of the actual incident, she identified Smith as the person she saw stumbling through the parking lot of the Colonial Bar just moments prior to being hit. She doesn't remember who was driving the pickup.

Mike Aaser, a 26-year-old friend of Alyea's boyfriend, was there and called 911. He also did not get a clear look at the driver of the green truck.

"That's the thing; it's very frustrating not to have seen him," he said.

Officer John Vanderhoef, a detective of the Mandan Police Department, provided testimony on the investigation.

He said Smith was identified by two people as the driver of the truck after the police eliminated other suspects.

The two allegedly smoked a cigarette with Smith earlier that evening and were in the parking lot when the truck sped past them before hitting Alyea.

Defense attorney Wayne Goter argued that the two witnesses that identified Smith had been drinking.

Judge William Hodny found probable cause for Smith on the charge of leaving the scene of an accident. If found guilty of the Class C felony, Smith faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $5,000.

He also pleaded not guilty to a Class A misdemeanor of aggravated reckless driving and Class A misdemeanor unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

(Reach reporter Chris Rosacker at 250-8254 or chris.rosacker@;bismarcktribune.com.)