A Kiester woman is facing multiple charges tied to the death of a Wells man in September 2022 in a crash on Minnesota Highway 22 in Faribault County.
Seventy year old Michael Phillip Wegner was driving a 2022 John Deere 4020 diesel tractor northbound on Highway 22, near 90th Street in Foster Township on September 27th, 2022 and was in front of a 2016 Dodge Journey, driven by 47 year old Adrienne Bryan that was also traveling northbound, when the two vehicles collided. Wegner died at the scene of the crash. Bryan received a broken hand and one of her minor passengers sustained internal bleeding and was airlifted to Rochester for treatment.
The Faribault County Attorney’s Office has charged Bryan by way of summons with seven counts, including three counts of criminal vehicular homicide, one for operating a vehicle in a grossly negligent manner and causing the death of another, one for operating a vehicle with negligence while under the influence of a combination of alcohol or controlled substances and causing the death of another and one for operating a vehicle in a negligent manner while having any amount of a Schedule I or II controlled substance in her system and caused the death of another.
She also faces three counts of criminal vehicular operation and one count of reckless driving. Aside from the reckless driving charge, which is a gross misdemeanor, the other charges are felonies.
While the crash reconstruction discovered there was a lack of proper illumination on the tractor, further investigation revealed that Bryan was traveling at 70mph 0.1 seconds before the collision and never applied any brake, according to a search of the sensing and diagnostic module factory installed on the Dodge Journey. The vehicle’s speedometer was also frozen at 70mph following the collision.
According the court complaint, lab results of Bryan’s blood alcohol content after the crash showed 0.053. She also tested positive for oxycodone, opiates, THC, amphetamine and methamphetamine.
Bryan was slated to appear on the charges in Faribault County District Court on Tuesday.
