The husband of an Elko New Market woman killed in a four-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35 in Lakeville has sued a food trucking firm and its driver, claiming the driver's negligence caused the crash last May.
Todd Brinkhaus is suing Reinhart Foodservice and its transportation company and driver Jason Styrbicky of Buffalo, Minn.
Brinkhaus contends in the suit filed in Dakota County District Court this week that his wife, Pamela Brinkhaus, 50, was killed after the semitrailer driver failed to brake, causing a chain-reaction crash that crushed two cars between that truck and another semitrailer carrying bees.
The accident killed another woman and let loose a cloud of bees, hampering police and firefighters who responded. Left crumpled between the tractor-trailer units were a Chevrolet Lumina and a Pontiac Bonneville. The driver of the Bonneville, Kari Rasmussen, 24, of St. Anthony, was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where she died.
Pamela Brinkhaus was northbound on I-35, between County Road 70 and County Road 2, when the accident occurred about 11:30 a.m. on May 24. She was behind the semitrailer loaded with 17 million bees.
The suit says preliminary findings of a State Patrol investigation found that the food truck was going at least 68 miles per hour. There appears to be no evidence of braking, the suit says.
An attorney for Todd Brinkhaus said driver fatigue played a role and that the case has "vast implications for the trucking industry." The suit claims the trucker failed to maintain a reasonable distance and drive a safe speed.
"We have serious questions as to how and why this collision occurred," said attorney Jim Carey.
