Porn Site-Surfing Trucker Killed Unborn Baby In MN Crash: Police
RICE COUNTY, MN — A semi-truck driver was surfing a pornography website on his phone moments before he caused a pileup crash that killed an unborn baby and injured several other people, according to prosecutors.Joel Adam Sassman, 53, was charged late last month with nine counts of criminal vehicular operation in the August 2023 crash.If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.On Aug. 20, 2023 at 12:20 p.m., the Rice County Sheriff’s Office and Minnesota State Patrol responded to a crash on northbound Interstate 35, south of Faribault.A Peterbilt semi-truck ramed into a Chevrolet Suburban that had slowed down due to construction traffic backup. That collision caused a chain reaction, authorities said:After the semi rear-ended the suburban, the semi went into the right ditch. The Suburban was pushed forward into a Ford Escape. When the Ford Escape was hit, the Escape was pushed into a Honda Accord. The Accord went into the right ditch, and the Escape continued on into a Volvo SUV. When the Volvo was hit by the Ford Escape, the Volvo rotated and hit a second Ford Escape.The front occupants of the Suburban suffered life-threatening injuries. Passenger Kaitlyn Herbert, 31, of Forest Lake was in the 31st week of her pregnancy. At the hospital, doctors performed an emergency C-section, but the baby died due to injuries from the crash, according to authorities.The three young children in the back seats of the Suburban, and the driver of the first Ford Escape involved in the crash were hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries. The weather at the time of the crash was clear, dry, and warm, authorities said.When a trooper asked Sassmann about the crash, he said, "Everything just stopped and I ran into the back of that car," according to the criminal complaint.The trooper asked Sassmann what he was doing that he did not see traffic was stopped, and Sassmann said "Just driving," the criminal complaint states.Sassmann had over a mile of unobstructed roadway to see stopped traffic, and all other traffic was able to stop without issue, investigators said.When Sassmann's cell phone was located, a semi-nude photo of a female was on the screen, according to the criminal complaint.Further investigation found that while driving, Sassmann had sent eight sex chats, conducted multiple searches on Adult Friend Finder Network, visited a Cams.com live sex chat, direct messaged a female on Instagram, received a Snapchat labeled “Bitches,” and changed the orientation of his phone to landscape five times.Records showed that Sassmann opened his phone 5 minutes after the crash, which was about 9 minutes before a trooper asked him for his phone, authorities said.When the trooper asked for the phone, Sassmann said he could not find it, according to the criminal complaint.The article Porn Site-Surfing Trucker Killed Unborn Baby In MN Crash: Police appeared first on Northfield, MN Patch.
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