A truck driver from Minnesota reportedly accessed an adult website moments before colliding with several vehicles, one of which was an SUV carrying a pregnant woman and her three young children. A tragic incident resulted in the loss of the mother’s unborn child due to the crash.
Joel Adam Sassmann, 52, faces charges for criminal vehicular operation resulting in the death of an unborn child following a crash in Rice County, Minn., in August 2023.
According to a probable cause statement acquired by PEOPLE, officials claim that Sassmann’s truck collided with the rear of a Chevrolet Suburban, causing it to collide with a Ford Escape. This chain reaction led the Escape to hit a Honda Accord, which was then pushed into a ditch, while the Escape also struck a Volvo SUV, resulting in it hitting another Escape.
A 31-week pregnant mother occupied the front passenger seat of the Suburban, accompanied by three young children in the backseat. A Minnesota State Police incident report reveals that the mother, named Kaitlyn Herbert, was transported to the hospital, where an emergency C-section was carried out, as stated in the probable cause document. Authorities reported that the unborn baby succumbed to blunt force trauma.
Before the incident, officials claimed that Sassmann was browsing an adult website and engaging in online conversations.
“The individual in question failed to fully focus on the task of operating his vehicle,” officials noted in the statement of probable cause. Evidence suggests the defendant was using his phone to access websites and send messages just prior to the collision. If the defendant had been aware of the reduced traffic speed, he could have safely decelerated his vehicle, preventing this collision from happening.
According to the probable cause statement, investigators reportedly discovered that prior to the incident, Sassmann engaged in eight explicit conversations, conducted multiple searches on an adult website, reached out to a woman via Instagram, and adjusted his phone’s orientation to landscape mode five times, among other activities.
Sassmann is set to make a court appearance in December, with no plea entered as of now.
Authorities report that Herbert’s three young children, aged 1, 3, and 4, were hospitalized following the accident, along with the driver of the vehicle involved.