RICE COUNTY, Minn. — A semi truck driver from Iowa was engaging in online sex chats in the minutes before causing a chain reaction crash on a southern Minnesota highway that terminally injured a baby in their mother’s womb and hurt several others, charges say.
The truck driver, a 52-year-old man from Iowa, faces nine counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash, court documents filed in Rice County last month show.
The crash occurred on northbound Interstate 35 in Rice County around 12:20 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2023.
Traffic was slowing ahead of the semi truck when the driver plowed into a Chevrolet Suburban, charges allege. The initial collision caused at least four other crashes.
Two people in the Suburban, one of whom was 31 weeks pregnant, suffered life-threatening injuries, the complaint states. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors performed an emergency C-section, but could not save the baby. A medical examiner said the baby died from injuries suffered in the crash.