Driver, 72, gets month in jail for veering off road, killing teen on bike

A 72-year-old man will serve 30 days in jail for losing control of his pickup truck on a rural Twin Cities road and fatally hitting a teenager who was bicycling home one summer's evening last year.

Joseph B. Friedges, of Lakeville, was sentenced Wednesday in Scott County District Court after pleading guilty to failure to notify law enforcement of a crash with injuries, a gross misdemeanor, and two misdemeanor counts: careless driving and having open liquor in a vehicle.

Dismissed as part of the plea deal with prosecutors were two felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide — alleging gross negligence and being under the influence of alcohol — in connection with the crash on July 1, 2022, that killed Braxton C. Sorenson, 15, on a road a block away from his family's Elko New Market home.

In a posting Monday on the family's verified GoFundMe page, father Benjamin Sorenson expressed disappointment with prosecutors for allowing Friedges to avoid the felony charges and a more severe punishment.

"The death of our son was not acknowledged," Benjamin Sorenson wrote. "On paper there was no life taken."

To avoid a conflict of interest, Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar said his office turned over prosecution of the case to the Le Sueur County Attorney's Office because "the victim's parents were defendants on other [cases] of ours."

Assistant Le Sueur County Attorney Jason Moran said the evidence against Friedges did not support the felony charges.

Gross negligence typically involves "excessive speed, distracted driving, drugs or alcohol," Moran told the Star Tribune. "There was no way for us to prove gross negligence in this case."

Moran pointed out that Friedges' level of intoxication was 0.02%, based on a law enforcement test of his blood. That's far below the 0.08% needed to charge him with being drunk at the time of the crash. Also, Moran said, Friedges was driving 7 to 11 miles per hour over the 55 mph limit, a speed not legally considered to be excessive. He also was not texting while driving or falling asleep, Moran added.

Friedges' explanation for why he failed to stay on the road has remained consistent, according to Moran.

"He claimed he had sneezed and his dentures had fallen out, and he was struggling with that," the prosecutor said.

Friedges will serve his first 15 days in jail starting on July 1, 2023, one year after the crash, then the remaining 15 days starting on July 1, 2024.

His sentence includes a $1,000 fine and no use of liquor or illicit drugs during his two years' probation. He's also required to write an apology to the Sorenson family and to appear before a panel organized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

According to the criminal complaint:

After a call to 911 around 7:10 p.m. from a passerby, law enforcement arrived at 260th Street near Zachary Avenue and found Sorenson on the ground dead.

Friedges left the scene briefly before stopping. He approached a deputy and said he hit the teenager while driving east on 260th. He said his cruise control was set at 55 miles per hour, and "he sneezed and went into the south ditch," the charges read.

Officers detected an odor of alcohol coming from Friedges and saw that his eyes were red. He said he had two mixed drinks a couple of hours before getting in his vehicle.

Friedges showed signs of impairment while law enforcement had him take a field sobriety test. A preliminary breath test at the scene measured his blood alcohol content at 0.05%, within the legal limit for driving in Minnesota. Testing blood for intoxication gives a more accurate result.

"Based on the debris and markings at the scene," the complaint read, officers believe that Sorenson was on his bike near the shoulder when Friedges' eastbound pickup crossed over the westbound lane of 260th and into the ditch, then came back onto the road and hit the teenager.