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Dec 4, 2008 10:23 pm US/Central
Car Dealer Denny Hecker Crashes Car Into Pole
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Denny Hecker (File)
David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images
A well-known Twin Cities car dealer, Denny Hecker, was seriously injured in a one-vehicle accident in Plymouth, Minn. Wednesday night.
Police said Hecker drove off a road and stuck a utility pole around 8:15 p.m. Paramedics brought him to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where he was listed in fair condition Thursday morning.
Police Capt. Craig Lindman said the accident report was incomplete and he had no other information on what may have caused the crash.
Jon Austin, a spokesman for Denny Hecker Automotive Group, said Hecker's vehicle went down an embankment and rolled over and landed again on its wheels.
"It was a bad accident," Austin said. "Denny was roughed up pretty good, but he's not in any life-threatening situation."
Austin said he didn't know what caused Hecker's vehicle to leave the road. He said there were "no indications" that alcohol was involved.
Power was knocked out in the area for a time after the accident.
Hecker is one of Minnesota's largest car dealers and has more than 30 years in the automobile retailing business, but the economic downturn has hit his business hard.
Just two weeks ago, Hecker announced he would close six of his Twin Cities dealerships and sell three others. That move left about 400 employees out of work.
Before that, Hecker ran 18 dealerships in Minnesota and three in California.
In early November, Hecker filed a federal lawsuit in Minneapolis saying that longtime partner Chrysler Financial Services allegedly acted in bad faith after it froze Hecker's credit lines, affecting his rental car business, fleet sales business and some of his dealerships.
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