A driver was talking on her phone when she slammed into the back of a parked Sheriff’s Office vehicle in southwestern Minnesota and critically injured a deputy behind the wheel, according to a criminal complaint.
Theresa Ann Baer, 63, of Sioux Falls was charged in Nobles County District Court with criminal vehicular operation in connection with [the wreck involving the two SUVs on April 13](https://www.startribune.com/patrol-driver-says-she-saw-squads-lights-before-hitting-deputy-parked-on-mn-interstate/601335777) on westbound Interstate 90 in Dewald Township.
Baer was charged by summons and is due in court on Monday. Court records do not list an attorney for her. Messages were left Thursday for Baer seeking a response to the allegations.
Nobles County deputy Arnold Logan Waldner, 30, of nearby Worthington was hospitalized after he suffered severe brain damage and other serious injuries. He was parked there, with emergency lights illuminated, while assigned to conduct traffic control as the patrol used a drone to investigate a fatal crash on that stretch of the interstate two days earlier.
Waldner suffered a severe brain injury and multiple strokes.
According to the complaint:
A state trooper was alerted to the crash about 4:35 p.m. and saw the deputy’s squad with heavy rear-end damage and the SUV with damage to its front. Ambulance personnel took Waldner out of his vehicle to a Sioux Falls hospital.
Baer told a second trooper that she saw the deputy’s vehicle and kept braking but failed to avoid the crash.