A St. Francis woman is charged with criminal vehicular homicide after investigators say she was using her phone in the moments before she fatally rear-ended a motorcyclist last fall.
Multiple witnesses told deputies the motorcyclist had been stationary and waiting to make a turn when the Traverse slammed into him. Surveillance footage from a nearby gas station confirmed the account, showing no apparent effort by the driver of the Traverse to slow down before impact. One witness described the SUV’s speed as “not slow.”
Deputies identified Pietrzak as the driver and sole occupant of the Traverse. The documents say she initially admitted to being on her phone and not paying attention, but later told others that the sun had been in her eyes. Investigators noted that at the time of the crash, the sun was high in the sky and southeast of her travel direction, making it unlikely to have impaired her vision.
Pietrzak told officers she had just left her dad’s house and sent a text while backing out of his driveway. She also admitted to using her phone to check her son’s location on a GPS tracking app while waiting at a stop sign just before the crash, but denied using her phone immediately prior to the collision.
A forensic analysis of Pietrzak’s phone revealed extensive use in the minutes leading up to and including at the exact moment of the crash, the documents said. Surveillance footage pinpointed the collision time at 11:55:17 a.m., matching the internal clock of her phone. Records show she was active on Snapchat until 11:54:42, then switched to texting and was using Apple’s Find My app through the moment of the crash. She then placed a call less than two minutes later.
Crash reconstruction by the Minnesota State Patrol concluded Pietrzak was driving between 45 and 53 mph—which is under the posted speed limit—but data from her vehicle showed she was accelerating and never applied the brakes in the five seconds before impact. Investigators determined that neither weather, road conditions, mechanical issues nor visual obstructions played a role in the crash. Instead, the report concluded that Pietrzak failed to maintain awareness of the road ahead due to her phone use and that the crash was preventable.
The report said there had been enough time and space for Pietrzak to slow down or use a bypass lane to avoid hitting the motorcyclist. She was cited in a separate case of violating Minnesota’s hands-free driving law during an unrelated Aug. 2024 traffic stop.
Pietrzak has been issued a summons and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on May 30. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000.
