Charges: Truck driver was watching phone before fatal crash [Video]

Prosecutors said the truck driver was distracted to the extent that he failed to apply the brakes before he crashed into a car and killed a couple.

FARIBAULT, Minn. — A semi-truck driver from Tennessee is accused of watching Netflix on his phone when he slammed into traffic last summer in southern Minnesota, killing a couple from Iowa.

Billie Joe Grimes, 55, of Lansing, TN, was charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one of criminal vehicular operation in connection to the crash last August on Interstate 35 just south of Faribault.

Killed in the Aug. 25 crash were 57-year-old Matthew Henry Hansen and Cimberly Ellen Hansen, 56, from Urbandale, Iowa.

The crash happened in the northbound lanes of I-35 at a point where traffic had slowed down because of an upcoming merger due to road construction.

Prosecutors said Grimes drove by orange Department of Transportation signs warning motorists of slow-moving traffic ahead.

According to the criminal complaint, Grimes’ Volvo semi-truck, loaded with …

Tags Reckless Driving, Vehicle Crashes