Charges: Semi driver was on sex chat site before I-35 crash

RICE COUNTY, Minn. — A semi truck driver from Iowa was engaging in online sex chats in the minutes before causing a chain reaction crash on a southern Minnesota highway that terminally injured a baby in their mother’s womb and hurt several others, charges say.
The truck driver, a 52-year-old man from Iowa, faces nine counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash, court documents filed in Rice County last month show.
The crash occurred on northbound Interstate 35 in Rice County around 12:20 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2023.
Traffic was slowing ahead of the semi truck when the driver plowed into a Chevrolet Suburban, charges allege. The initial collision caused at least four other crashes.
Two people in the Suburban, one of whom was 31 weeks pregnant, suffered life-threatening injuries, the complaint states. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors performed an emergency C-section, but could not save the baby. A medical examiner said the baby died from injuries suffered in the crash.
Three children in the back of the Suburban also required hospitalization. Others in the crash suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
The truck driver initially told police he was “just driving” when the crash occurred, according to the complaint. While investigating the crash, the Minnesota State Patrol reviewed his phone data.
While driving his truck from 10:03 a.m. to 12:19 p.m., “the defendant had sent eight (8) 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 ‘B*****s,’ and changed the orientation of his phone to landscape five (5) times.” the complaint states.
The truck driver sent his last message two minutes before the crash — it said, “Yum is correct!!!,” according to the complaint.
A trooper asked the driver for his phone after the crash, but he said he could not find it, the complaint states. Biometric data from the phone shows he used it five minutes after the crash and nine minutes before the trooper asked for it.
Traffic had slowed because of construction in the area of the crash. The truck driver was going 69 mph at the time of the crash, prosecutors allege. According to the complaint, there were signs warning of both road construction and slowed traffic on both sides of the highway.
“If the defendant been alert to the slowed traffic, then he could have safely slowed his vehicle and this collision does not occur,” the complaint said.  
The truck driver is scheduled to appear in court in December.