Byron, MN (KROC-AM News) – Charges have been filed against the driver of a semi-truck that plowed into several vehicles at a busy intersection along Highway 14 in Byron earlier this year.
The criminal complaint charges 52-year-old Joseph Mitilien with two gross misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, along with two misdemeanor offenses for failing to obey a traffic control device and engaging in the initiation, sending, retrieval, and/or reading of electronic messages using a wireless communication device. It’s alleged the Miami, Florida man was distracted by a cell phone when the chain reaction crash occurred on the late morning of April 21.
Mitilien criminal complaint-Olmsted County Court
According to the court document, Mitilien was driving an eastbound semi-truck that collided with several stationary vehicles while traveling at highway speed at the traffic light-controlled intersection of Highway 14 and 10th Avenue Northwest in Byron. Video from MnDOT cameras aimed at the intersection showed the light for vehicles on Highway 14 had just turned from red to green, but the vehicles that had stopped at the intersection had not begun moving.
The videos show the truck striking a minivan and pushing it into an SUV in a collision that sent the smaller vehicles to the south of the intersection. The semi can then be seen veering slightly to the north and continuing through the intersection before striking a Jeep and crashing in the median ditch. The trooper who reviewed the videos stated that it did not appear the semi-truck slowed down as it approached the other vehicles.
The criminal complaint says the occupants of the minivan and the SUV were transported to St. Marys Hospital with significant injuries. The woman driving the minivan suffered multiple broken bones and underwent multiple surgeries due to a brain bleed. A man riding in the passenger seat of the SUV suffered a broken back in the crash.
Mitilien criminal complaint-Olmsted County Court
The court document indicates that 2 cell phones and the driver’s log were seized from the semi-truck. A forensic examination of the phones determined Mitilien made or received 4 phone calls, dealt with nine messages on WhatsApp, and watched multiple YouTube videos during the times he was driving the truck the morning of the crash. The investigation also determined that Mitilien began playing a 31-minute long video on his phone beginning at 10 AM that was still playing at the time the crash occurred.
Mitilien is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the charges in February.
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