Semi Driver Gets Year in Jail For Chain-Reaction Crash That Killed 3

A Buffalo, MN, man was sentenced Tuesday to a year in the Dakota County Jail after he was found guilty in May of setting off a 2010 chain-reaction crash in Lakeville that killed two women and an unborn baby and released hundreds of live bees from a semi truck.  

Jason Alan Styrbicky, 38, was found guilty of three felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the May 2010 crash, which killed Pamela Brinkhaus, 50, of Elko New Market; Kari Rasmussen, 24, of St. Anthony; and Rasmussen’s unborn 8-week-old baby.    

Styrbicky was sentenced Tuesday in Dakota County District Court in Hastings to four years in prison, which was stayed for 10 years, and ordered to serve a year in the county jail.

He was taken into custody immediately after his sentencing hearing and will be eligible for work release.

Prosecutors said Styrbicky didn’t slow down or brake before he slammed into the rear of cars driven by Brinkhaus and Rasmussen, both of which were stopped in traffic on Interstate 35 near County Road 70. The interstate was down to one lane, and MnDOT warning signs about the closed lane were posted well in advance of the closure.

Authorities said Styrbicky was driving at full speed when he hit the two cars.

Styrbicky’s semi crushed the two cars between his truck and another semi truck in front. The crash released honeybees that were being transported in the other semi.

Styrbicky told investigators that he had been reaching down to the floor of his truck’s cab for an energy drink, and when he looked up and saw the backup, it was too late to stop.