Woman charged in fatal Anoka County crash

A St. Francis woman is facing charges after allegedly being on her phone during a fatal crash last year.

Jessica Marie Pietrzak, 31, was charged earlier this week with one count of criminal vehicular homicide.

As previously reported, on Oct. 5, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office responded to a car crash near the intersection of 3200 Viking Boulevard Northwest in Oak Grove.

Authorities said that a woman driving an SUV hit a motorcyclist from behind while he was waiting to turn. The victim, who was identified as 49-year-old Kelly Matthew Linder, was thrown from his motorcycle and died at the scene.

According to court documents, Pietrzak said she had used her phone to check her son’s location while she was at a stop sign waiting to turn on Viking Boulevard. She told officials she put the phone in her center console and didn’t use it immediately before the crash.

An examination of Pietrzak’s phone, however, showed that it was used multiple times just before and at the time of the crash.

A Minnesota State Patrol crash reconstruction report stated her car was going between 45 and 53 mph at the time of impact. Data from her vehicle shows it was accelerating for the five seconds before the crash and that at no point was the brake engaged, court records show.

Pietrzak was previously convicted of violating the “Hands Free” law for using her phone while driving last year.

She has her first court appearance scheduled for May 30.