A woman suspected of speeding the wrong way for several miles while drunk on a highway north of Rochester has been charged with causing a three-vehicle collision that killed another motorist.
Simona Montiel Vera was charged in Goodhue County District Court last week with four counts each of criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation, and three counts of fleeing law enforcement in connection with the crash near Pine Island on Sept. 14, 2024, that killed 60-year-old LaRae Lynne Post, of Rochester.
Vera, 36, of San Diego, was jailed Monday and remains held in lieu of $150,000 bail ahead of a Sept. 3 court appearance. Vera’s attorney declined Tuesday to respond to the allegations.
A State Patrol investigation determined that Vera was traveling 110 miles per hour at one point during the 13 miles she was going the wrong way, and her speed was 102 mph at the moment of impact, the criminal complaint read.
According to the complaint:
Calls to 911 alerted law enforcement to a pickup truck driver head north on southbound Hwy. 523 and nearly hitting several vehicles. A sheriff’s deputy soon spotted the pickup traveling at least 100 mph the wrong way on the highway.
The deputy and a state trooper briefly pursued the driver, later identified as Vera, until she crashed. Post, driving a Chevy SUV, died at the scene. The driver of a Jeep, 25-year-old Marisa Emily-Taylor Johnson, of Rochester, survived numerous serious injuries.
Vera was taken by emergency medical responders to a Rochester hospital, where a blood sample was collected for testing that showed her blood alcohol content about three hours after the crash was 0.158%, nearly twice the legal level for driving in Minnesota.
