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Trucker who was 'always on his phone' gets 2 years for causing crash that killed couple in Rosemount

He is expected to serve roughly the first 1 1⁄4 years in jail and the balance on supervised release.

By Paul Walsh

May 19, 2023 at 10:07PM

A dump truck driver known for being "always on his phone" received a two-year term Friday afternoon for causing a multivehicle collision that killed a couple in Rosemount.

Fred T. Fonji of Roseville was sentenced in Dakota County District Court after a jury found him guilty on two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the wreck on Oct. 17, 2019, on Hwy. 55 that killed William L. Craig, 47, and Colette L. Craig, 48, of South St. Paul.

Judge Kathryn Iverson Landrum sentenced Fonji, who turns 50 on Saturday, to consecutive one-year terms. He is expected to serve roughly the first 1 ¼ years in jail and the balance on supervised release. He also was fined $2,000 and ordered to do 300 hours of community work service.

A prosecution memo filed Thursday argued for Fonji to receive two consecutive sentences of nearly 3 ½ years — one for each life taken — for a total term just shy of seven years.

The memo pointed to "the loss of two lives, [Fonji's] status as a commercial driver, the size and weight of the commercial vehicle he was driving, and the complete lack of attention on the roadway that prevented him from safely stopping" like the other drivers ahead of him.

An analysis by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension of two cellphones seized from Fonji showed he received two incoming WhatsApp messages, one at 12:18 p.m. and the other 20 seconds later, the charges read. The analysis could not determine whether Fonji opened the messages.

A state trooper who arrived immediately after the crash noted that he showed up at 12:20 p.m. and saw the Craigs' car still "smoking" from when Fonji set off the four-vehicle crash, the criminal complaint continued.

Two days later, a woman who worked at a landfill 2 miles from the scene contacted a state trooper to say that Fonji is "always on the phone [and] described that the driver had been through the station three times on the day of the crash and was won the phone all three times," the complaint read. "She estimated that she has seen the driver about 100 times total."

The primary contributing factor to the crash, the charges noted, "was the defendant's failure to slow and/or stop for the traffic ahead of him, [and] a secondary factor could be the defendant's distraction by a cellphone."

In the days leading up to the crash, letters speaking to Fonji's character were submitted to the court from fellow members of the state's Cameroonian community and from his minister.

The Rev. David Parker of Presbyterian Church of the Way in Little Canada said Fonji contacted him the day after the crash, and "he was clearly grieving the loss of the Craigs' lives and his part in the accident. ... He has expressed to me multiple times how sorry he feels for the Craigs' children who have to go through the rest of their lives without their parents."

At last Sunday's service, Parker wrote, "I witnessed the most beautiful moment ... when people stood to lay hands on Fred in prayer knowing his sentencing was coming this Friday."

According to the complaint:

A semitrailer truck was waiting to turn left from eastbound Hwy. 55 onto Doyle Path. A pickup truck and the Craigs' car were either slowing down or already stopped behind the semi. Fonji hit the pickup while traveling at least 55 to 58 mph and then struck the Craigs' car, which then hit the semi.

The Craigs' vehicle was torn in half, and they were pronounced dead at the scene. Fonji and the other two drivers survived their injuries.

The couple's online obituary said that on the day of the crash "Will and Cully left their home on a lovely fall day to drive down to see the autumn colors along the Mississippi."