Pickup driver charged in crash that killed Blaine High School teacher

After more than a year, charges have been filed against a 64-year-old woman for fatally hitting a motorcyclist at an Anoka County intersection.

Sherry Hemmingson-Thatcher was charged in District Court last week with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the collision on July 2, 2019, in Ham Lake that killed Daniel R. Priess, 33, of Blaine.

Priess, who was born and raised in Germany, was a German language teacher at Blaine High School. He also taught German at Anoka High School in 2017-18 and English as a second language for two summers at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids.

The specific counts against Hemmingson-Thatcher, of Ham Lake, are for driving in a grossly negligent manner and for being negligent while under the influence of alcohol.

The charges say that Hemmingson-Thatcher's blood alcohol content soon after the crash was 0.038%, less than half what typically is needed to draw a charge related to drinking and driving.

The County Attorney's Office declined to elaborate Friday on the decision to file the alcohol-related count, said office spokeswoman Elizabeth Mohr.

Hemmingson-Thatcher was charged by summons. Court records show no attorney for her, and she was not immediately available Monday to respond to the allegations.

Hemmingson-Thatcher was driving her pickup truck north on Lexington Avenue about 4:15 p.m., came up to a flashing yellow arrow traffic signal, made a left-hand turn onto Bunker Lake Boulevard and hit Priess' southbound motorcycle.

She said she saw the motorcycle approaching "but thought she had enough time to make the turn," the charges read. "The defendant admitted to consuming two 16-ounce beers before driving."

Hemmingson-Thatcher's criminal history includes two drunken driving convictions from the 1990s.