Driver denies being on phone when he fatally struck woman crossing street near Twin Cities

A driver was on his phone when he hit and killed a woman walking across a street in Wright County, according to a criminal complaint.

Jonathan William Edwards, 46, was charged Monday in Wright County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash that occurred on Sept. 4 in Howard Lake on Hwy. 12 near 11th Avenue. Barbara Jean Hoppe, 85, of Howard Lake, Minn., was killed.

Edwards, also of Howard Lake, was charged by summons and is due in court on May 9. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

In a phone call Friday morning with the Star Tribune, Edwards said, “I’m truly sorry this all happened” but denied being on the phone at the time of the crash.

“I never talk on the phone when I’m in the van, ever,” he said. “I am going to fight this.”

According to the complaint, Police Chief David Thompson was the first in law enforcement to respond to the scene about 2:48 p.m., where he saw an unresponsive Hoppe down in the road with head and arm injuries. Emergency responders took Hoppe to HCMC, where she was declared dead that afternoon.

Edwards’ van was stopped nearby in the eastbound lane of Hwy. 12. Edwards told police that Hoppe was in the middle of the street and not in the crosswalk. He said he locked up his brakes just before he struck her.

A State Patrol sergeant watched video from a nearby gas station that showed Hoppe leave her home, then “standing at the crosswalk waiting for traffic on Hwy. 12 to clear,” the complaint read. “Ms. Hoppe is seen on the video footage walking across Hwy. 12 within the marked and painted crosswalk.”

The video captured Edwards’ van nearing the crosswalk and “not slowing until the last moment when the brakes were abruptly applied,” the complaint continued. The van hit Hoppe and sent her airborne.

A second patrol sergeant checked Edwards’ phone, and it showed an outgoing call to a bank at 2:46 p.m., “very near when the crash was reported to law enforcement,” the complaint noted.

Edwards claimed the phone was connected to a Bluetooth device, which would have allowed for hands-free calling. However, Edwards’ van did not have any Bluetooth devices connected to it.