Man who fatally hit 8-year-old while on meth sentenced to over 4 years in prison

A 49-year-old was sentenced to over four years (57 months) in prison in connection with a crash that killed an 8-year-old girl who was riding her bike in August of 2022.

Joseph Ray Jacobson pleaded guilty to one count of criminal vehicular homicide in October. In exchange for his guilty plea, a second count of criminal vehicular homicide was dismissed.

As previously reported, the crash occurred at around 8 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2022, near the intersection of Dakota Trail and Orion Road in Prior Lake on the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Reservation.

The girl’s mother told police that her daughter, Chyanne Rios, wanted to ride her bike to a nearby convenience store. The mother agreed but followed Chyanne in her car to watch her.

According to a criminal complaint, as Chyanne crossed the intersection, a man driving a GMC Denali, identified as Jacobson, ran a stop sign and hit her.

Jacobson told officers that “the child came out of nowhere” as he was stopped at the stop sign. When asked if he was using his cellphone when the crash happened, he replied, “I think I was,” the criminal complaint states.

Surveillance video showed the Denali never even slowed at the stop sign, according to the complaint. Additionally, a blood draw was taken and showed Jacobson had meth in his system.