North Dakota Woman Pleads Guilty to Trying to Hit People with Car During Ex-Boyfriend’s Graveside Funeral Service

A North Dakota woman recently pleaded guilty to attempting to run people over with her car during her ex-boyfriend’s graveside funeral service earlier this year.

According to court records in Cass County, Blair Rebecca Whitten admitted to one count of reckless endangerment over the May 1, 2021 incident. As Law&Crime reported at the time, Whitten was accused of shifting the gears, hitting the gas, and “trying to run people over” with her SUV during the Saturday afternoon service this past spring.

“Multiple complainants reported Whitten was driving her vehicle, inside the cemetery, in a manner with extreme indifference for human life which created substantial risk of serious bodily injury to persons in the cemetery,” Fargo Police spokesperson Jessica Schindeldecker told FOX affiliate KVRR back in May.

The ex-boyfriend, Colin MacDonald, 24, died unexpectedly in his sleep due to complications form a minor surgery.

“She knew she wasn’t welcome, and what she did instead of leaving peacefully was try to run somebody over and run somebody else over, which was me!” Gericka Charbonneau, MacDonald’s girlfriend when he died, told a local television crew from NBC affiliate KVLY. “There were elderly, there were children, there were people here who weren’t even here for Colin’s funeral. They were here for their own people and they didn’t know what was going on!”

“All of a sudden I heard someone screaming and yelling,” said Joan McIntyre, the decedent’s mother. “So, I came out of the tent to find a car taking off at about 50 miles an hour and people screaming, ‘She just ran me over!’”

Whitten allegedly told a responding police officer that she was minding her own business when members of her ex-boyfriend’s family approached her and that she feared for her safety. She claimed she drove off without incident and didn’t try to hit anyone.

However, she had reportedly been asked to keep her distance from the family after posting bizarre messages about her ex online, Newsweek reported. MacDonald’s family told local television crews Whitten had been a problem for years.

No one was hurt in the incident at the cemetery.

According to court records, Whitten pleaded guilty on Sept. 27, 2021, thus avoiding a misdemeanor jury trial. Those records show that various court fees were waived.

According to KVLY, Whitten received credit for 95 days she already spent behind bars in the Cass County, N.D. jail.  The amount of fees waived totaled $360, the television station said.

Whitten faces other charges in other cases. According to court records, Whitten’s rap sheet includes seventeen separate criminal and traffic offenses dating back to 2014. Some have long since been closed or adjudicated.

The various counts include a 2014 case alleging that Whitten drove a vehicle with a suspended or revoked license (guilty plea), a 2015 felony drug case, two marijuana possession cases dated 2020, a public alcohol consumption charge dated 2020, a criminal mischief case dated 2020, and a traffic case dated 2020. Those cases all predated the incident in the cemetery. The defendant pleaded guilty in each case.

Since the incident at her ex-boyfriend’s funeral, Whitten has faced a litany of additional accusations.

Whitten was accused of speeding 26-35 miles over the limit in one incident dated June 2, 2021. She was subsequently accused of preventing arrest, possessing marijuana, and possessing drug paraphernalia on June 21, 2021. Then, on July 1, 2021, she was accused of terrorizing an adult victim, attempting to commit simple assault on a peace officer or correctional officer, refusing to halt, unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana. She also on July 1, she was accused of causing willful damage to property and criminal mischief. (At least one of those cases appears to be in connection with vandalism Whitten is alleged to have committed to a statue of Jesus outside a Fargo cathedral. She’s accused of painting the face of the statue black — and of being caught on video in the process of so doing.) On July 12, she was charged with a pair of additional marijuana offenses and criminal trespass. On July 14, she was accused of terrorizing an adult victim and possessing marijuana. According to court records, all of these incidents remain open cases except for the June 2 traffic incident; it resulted in a guilty plea.