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Prosecutors filed a criminal homicide charge against a Hastings man suspected of escaping after a 1,100-pound rock fell from his truck and killed two women in a car.
Joseph Paul Czeck, 33, made his first court appearance Friday and was charged with four counts of criminal homicide driving, each of which carries up to 10 years of jail. Two of the charges are grossly negligent, and the other two involve leaving the premises. Lease was set at $ 70,000.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the Dakota County Attorney's Office, Czeck was driving along Rich Valley Boulevard in Rosemount just after 4:30 pm. Monday, carrying insecure rocks at the back of his truck. When the truck crossed a railway track, one of the rocks flew off the truck, crossed the median and bounced into the windshield of a car coming in the opposite direction.
This car was driven by Karen Christiansen, who was taking her daughter Jena to the family home in Shoreview. Jena, 32, lived in Superior, Wisconsin, and ran a Red Lobster restaurant. Karen, 67, retired from her position as Training Representative at Dakota County Technical College. Jena and her boyfriend, Ryan Kilian, were moving to the Twin Cities, where she had just started at the Bloomington Red Lobster, Kilian told the Star Tribune.
The complaint says that Czeck continued to drive for nearly a year. mile after the rock fell off the truck before retiring, according to the surveillance video of neighboring companies. He walked around the truck, came back and took off again in the direction he had headed, according to the complaint. He stopped a second later for about two minutes and then resumed the road
Police said the pre-accident surveillance videos seemed to show that the rocks were n & # 39; 39 were not secure in Czeck's truck, according to the complaint. Czeck never reported the incident. Police arrested him on Wednesday in a house in Inver Grove Heights
"It was a senseless and avoidable tragedy that took the lives of two people," said the county attorney. Dakota, James Backstrom, in a statement. "Anyone involved in a vehicle accident must remain on the scene and contact the law enforcement agencies."
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