A 24-year-old motorist with a slew of driving infractions has admitted that his cellphone diverted his attention when he rammed his SUV into the back of a stopped car on a southern Minnesota highway, killing the other driver and her daughter, authorities said.
Rachel Harberts, 43, of Dodge Center, Minn., was taken off life support at a Rochester hospital and died Saturday, eight days after the Sept. 7 crash on Hwy. 14 in Claremont killed her 8-year-old daughter, Emerson Harberts, and badly injured her 12-year-old son, Jaxon Harberts.
Rachel Harberts was a lifelong Minnesotan and a first-grade teacher and junior high volleyball coach at Blooming Prairie School. She and her children were heading to school before the start of classes for all three that Friday. Emerson was a third-grader, and Jaxon is in seventh grade.
Emerson "loved going to school and reading," her obituary online said. "In her free time, you would find her singing, dancing, playing dress up and swimming. Emerson just learned how to water ski this year. … Emerson loved receiving flowers on her birthday from her daddy, which was something she looked forward to every year."
A combined service is scheduled for midday Thursday in Rochester, prompting school officials to call off classes across the district for roughly 725 students.
"An overwhelming number of staff and students will be attending, which would make the school day nonproductive," a notice posted Tuesday on the district website read. "This may cause some minor hardship for some, but we need to allow our district to grieve in an appropriate manner and time frame."
In the days since the crash, high school sports teams have been showing their support for the Harberts family and the wider school community. Volleyball players wore purple ribbons on their shoes for a match and braided their hair in a nod to how Emerson often wore hers.
The driver of the SUV, Tanner R. Kruckeberg, also of Dodge Center, was not injured. A State Patrol investigation could take as long as 90 days from the date of the crash.