A Rochester-area man was put on probation for a fatal highway collision he caused while distracted by his cellphone.
Eric Wittlief, 23, of Oronoco was sentenced in Winona County District Court in connection with the crash on Aug. 5, 2021, on Hwy. 14 involving his pickup truck and an oncoming sedan.
The passenger in the sedan, Christ G. Brown, 58, of Stockton, Minn., died from blunt-force injuries the next day in a La Crosse, Wis., hospital. Wittlief was hospitalized in Rochester for his injuries.
Falling in line with a plea agreement reached between prosecutors and the defense, Judge Dwight Luhmann accepted Wittlief’s admission to a gross misdemeanor charge of reckless driving and to misdemeanor careless driving.
Luhmann’s sentence calls for the reckless driving count to be dismissed if he finishes his probationary term without any violations. The judge also set aside a 90-day jail term and ordered Wittlief to perform 40 hours of community work service.
“I was on my phone ... it [was] a conscious choice, and was a substantial and unjustifiable risk,” Wittlief admitted in the plea filing. He also agreed he was driving too fast for the rainy conditions at the time.
According to court records:
Brown’s wife, Laura Brown, was driving the car and sustained serious injuries. She told officers that she attempted to swerve out of the way but couldn’t avoid being hit head-on by the truck.
