Charges Filed in Rochester, MN Crash That Injured Four People

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has filed charges in connection to a Rochester crash that injured four people last year. 

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Olmsted County Court records indicate the criminal complaint was filed on Wednesday. The crash happened on Nov. 10. 

The criminal complaint says Rochester Police responded to a three-vehicle crash at the intersection of Hwy. 14 and Crossroads Dr. Southwest. Investigators determined a vehicle collided with the back of a pick-up which then caused the pick-up to collide with the back of an SUV in front of it. 

A passenger in the pick-up suffered injuries to her chest and back and was transported to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital for further care, the complaint says. The pick-up driver and two occupants in the SUV suffered what the court document describes as minor injuries. 

The driver who is alleged to have initiated the crash is identified as 53-year-old James Alan Stegenga of Rochester. 

Stegenga told the responding officer he was driving the vehicle that is alleged to have caused the collision and that he had consumed “a few beers” at a Rochester bar prior to the traffic incident, the complaint states. 

The charges allege Stegenga failed field sobriety testing and gave a preliminary breath test which measured his BAC at 0.13. Investigators later obtained a sample of Stegenga’s blood and sent it to the BCA which returned a result of a 0.138 BCA at the time of the blood draw, according to the court document. 

Stegenga was charged Tuesday with a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation and two counts of misdemeanor DWI. He’s due to make his first court appearance next month.

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