Driver pleads guilty to texting-and-driving crash that killed New Prague school bus driver

A New Prague woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to texting while driving, causing her to strike and kill a 79-year-old school bus driver last fall.

Susan Ann Russo, 48, will be sentenced to two years of probation and four days in jail. She pleaded guilty to reckless driving and misuse of a wireless communication device.

Russo struck and killed Joseph Tikalsky on Oct. 28 as he collected his morning newspaper at the roadside. Tikalsky was wearing a reflective vest at the time and was on break from his routes as a school bus driver.

Russo's sentencing had been set for 9 a.m. on Oct. 17 in front of Le Sueur County District Judge Mark Vandelist, but the plea came with an agreement on the sentence. Tikalsky's family expressed disappointment.

The agreement calls for Russo to serve two years of probation, pay a $3,000 fine and perform 40 hours of community service for Minnesotans for Safe Driving. She also must serve 48 hours in jail on the one- and two-year anniversaries of the crash. If she's eligible, she can be on work-release for those days as well, meaning she would be allowed to leave jail for work. Russo must refrain from using drugs or alcohol during her probation and she is not allowed to have electronic devices in the car.

Dan Dorman, who is married to Joseph and Emmy Tikalsky's daughter, Mary Jo, said the family was disappointed at the brevity of the sentencing.

"This woman made a conscious decision to do this," Dorman said, adding rhetorically: "Four days seems incredibly low, but would 90 days make it better?"

"We've got this marketing campaign to try to stop people from texting and driving, because it's an epidemic, but it doesn't feel like the court system feels like it's an epidemic," said Dorman. "Treating [texting and driving] like it's no big deal is not going to fix it."

According to reports from the crash, Russo told law enforcement officers that she had looked down at her phone and that when she looked up, she saw a "yellow blur" just before a "really big" impact.

She told the deputy that she was "in the process of typing her daughter a text message" before the impact. The message was never sent.

The crash occurred along County Road 29 near 1st Avenue on the outskirts of town.

At the time of the collision, 7:35 a.m., conditions were dark and rainy, but the "primary" factor in the crash was that "Russo was distracted and not paying attention to the roadway ahead of her due to cellphone use," the Le Sueur County criminal complaint said.