Prosecutors in northwestern Minnesota won’t pursue prison time and have agreed to a jail term for a driver who was watching TikTok videos when she struck and killed a pedestrian in the middle of the day.
Mariska Kay Nunn, 21, agreed on Jan. 8 to plead guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash on Sept. 3, 2024, on Randolph Road in Detroit Lakes that killed Dean Chadbourne, 81, of Detroit Lakes.
The plea deal calls for Nunn to serve six months in jail and be placed on supervised probation for eight years.
She also must make a presentation at every student driver/driver’s education course at Detroit Lakes High School “to discuss the harms and risks of using your phone while driving,” the plea agreement filing read.
Nunn’s sentencing in Becker County District Court is scheduled for Jan. 26, when Judge Ole Tvedten will decide whether to accept the plea agreement’s terms.
A police investigator was sent about 12:15 p.m. to the scene of the crash and saw Chadbourne on the pavement. A car with windshield and driver’s side mirror damage was parked nearby. Chadbourne was taken away by ambulance and died about 45 minutes later at the Detroit Lakes Airport.
Nunn told an officer at the scene that she was heading west on Randolph and did not see Chadbourne in the road. She acknowledged that “her phone was on her lap [and] she had been viewing a TikTok video when the accident happened,” the complaint read.
