Charges: Driver in Wayzata police death was on her phone and a substance
MINNEAPOLIS – The driver of a car that struck and killed a Wayzata police officer last week on U.S. Highway 12 has been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
One of the charges say she may have been under the influence of a substance, and the complaint says she told officers she was messing with her cellphone.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced on Monday, Sept. 11, that the actions of Beth Ilene Freeman, 54, of Mound, led to the death of Wayzata Police Officer William Mathews, 47.
One charge is for gross negligence vehicular homicide and the other is for driving under the influence of a controlled substance vehicular homicide.
Beth Freeman was expected to make her first appearance before a judge on Monday, Sept. 11.
'This is another case of a distracted driver, someone who thought she could drive a one-ton vehicle safely while using her cellphone,' said Mike Freeman, who is not related to Beth Freeman. 'She couldn't and neither can anyone else on our roads. The result is too many of these tragedies where good people are dying through no fault of their own.'
Mathews was sent to Highway 12 near Broadway Avenue in Wayzata at 12:26 p.m. because of a 'chunk of metal in the road.'
About four minutes later, the call came of an officer who had been hit.
Motorists told investigators that Mathews had picked up the metal and was nearly back to his squad car, parked on the right shoulder, when a Nissan Murano struck him. They said it was traveling eastbound between 55 and 65 miles per hour, the complaint states.
Beth Ilene Freeman told officers she was talking on the phone and receiving text messages just before collision. A search of her cellphone corroborated that admission, according to the complaint.
In addition, a police officer administered a field sobriety test to Freeman and she had constricted pupils and had difficulty counting backward. A search warrant was obtained and blood was drawn from her, though the results have not yet been returned, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office states. Drug paraphernalia in the passenger compartment of her car tested positive for cocaine, the complaint states.
On Monday afternoon, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that Mathews died from multiple blunt force injuries after being struck by a motor vehicle.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and Minnesota State Patrol are investigating.
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