An 800-pound boulder rolled off of a truck in Minnesota and smashed into a car, killing a mother and daughter who were inside.
Karen Christiansen, 67, was driving with her daughter Jena Christiansen, 32, in Rosemount on Monday afternoon when the boulder became dislodged from the back of a truck and crashed into their 2002 Toyota Avalon.
Both women died from blunt force head trauma, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office told KSTP.
“My heart is broken,” Jena’s boyfriend, Ryan Kilian, told the broadcaster. “The world has lost an angel.”
“She is the most amazing person I have ever met. She was so smart and beautiful. She made me the man I am today. I would be nothing without her. She would do anything for anyone who needed help she loved her family so much. She had an amazing sense of humor I literally have spent hours just talking to her,” he added.
The boulder was being carried on the back of a landscaping truck, police officers said.
A mother and daughter were killed when this boulder fell off a truck Monday in Rosemount. The boulder weights around 800 pounds. It went completely through the car. Police have ID the truck— but are now looking for the driver. @KSTP pic.twitter.com/D0AGk7PEhr
— Eric Chaloux (@EChalouxKSTP) July 11, 2018
Rosemount Police says driver of truck that had to 800 pound bolder that rolled off…the accident killed 2 women has been arrested…booked into jail. @KSTP pic.twitter.com/tvs2II6Q5t
— Eric Chaloux (@EChalouxKSTP) July 12, 2018
The truck driver was later found and apprehended.
He was identified as Joe Czeck, 33, of Hastings, officers told ABC.
Czeck declined to give a statement and was taken to the Dakota County Jail, though as of Thursday, he had not been formally charged, according to Rosemount Police Chief Mitchell Scott.
“You’re required by law to have whatever you are hauling secured in your vehicle. So if you have a lawnmower or an ATV, UTV inside, you are responsible to make sure it’s secure,” Scott told CBS.
Scott told Fox that the boulder wasn’t properly secured.
“It could have been prevented,” he said. “If you tried to re-create this a million times, I don’t think you’re going to get the same result.”
He added that the mother and daughter were likely killed instantly.
“I don’t think they had any time to react to it whatsoever,” Scott added. “It happened in an instant.”