Senser Attorney: Fatal Crash Victim Impaired by Cocaine

The Minneapolis chef hit and killed by a vehicle driven by the wife of former Vikings player Joe Senser had "high amounts of cocaine" in his system at the time of the crash, making him legally impaired and "likely to be moving erratically and unpredictably."

That's according to a motion to dismiss the criminal charges filed by Amy Senser's criminal defense attorney Friday afternoon. Senser is charged with two felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the Aug. 23 crash that killed 38-year-old Anousone Phanthavong on the Riverside Avenue ramp to Interstate 94 in Minneapolis.

The information from Phanthavong's autopsy is contained in a 26-page filing in Hennepin County District Court.

That filing also critiques investigators' handling of the Senser case. According to the filing, a crash reconstruction report "blatantly manipulated in favor of the State" makes several assumptions that lack evidence, including the conclusion that the driver would have known a person had been struck.

Senser claims she did not know she hit Phanthavong. It was not until later that she made the "tragic realization" that she had hit and killed a person, according to Friday's filing.

In the filing, Senser's defense also responds to the release of Senser's cell phone data, which puts her in the vicinity of the crash 40 minutes after it happened.

According to the filing, the fact that Senser was in the area is not evidence that she knew she had hit and killed someone. Senser's calls show her driving pattern was more indicative of someone lost or traveling to other locations, according to her defense.

Senser's trial is scheduled for April.

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