State trooper admits being on laptop when he hit stopped traffic on 35W, says driver who was struck

A Minnesota state trooper hit a car stopped on a congested Twin Cities highway and said moments later he was on his laptop at the time of impact, one of the motorists caught up in the three-vehicle wreck said Thursday.

The crash involving the trooper’s Dodge Durango and the two civilian vehicles occurred about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 35W near the Burnsville Parkway exit, Patrol Lt. Michael Lee said Thursday.

Lee declined to address any of the circumstances leading up to the chain-reaction collision, explaining in writing that “specific details of the crash such as statements and actions of drivers/vehicles cannot be released at this time.”

The lieutenant identified the trooper as 35-year-old Justin Daniel Turbes. Patrol records show that he’s been with the agency for more than 10 years. Lee said Turbes remains on active duty while the crash is being “investigated then turned over to prosecutors for review” of potential charges, if any.

The crash happened one day before state trooper Shane Roper, charged in the death of Owatonna High School cheerleader Olivia Flores, pleaded not guilty in Olmsted County District Court to all nine counts related to the collision in Rochester. Prosecutors say Roper was traveling 83 mph in a 40 mph zone near a shopping mall when his squad car collided with a vehicle occupied by Flores and two others.

Wednesday’s wreck on Interstate 35W

Joey Hammer told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday that he was stopped in his car in the far left southbound lane when he looked in his rearview mirror and saw the squad drawing near.

“It wasn’t slowing, so I kind of braced,” the 23-year-old from Lakeville said. “It was a sheer moment of panic. I didn’t feel like there was anything I could do.”

The crash sent his 2003 Pontiac Bonneville — affectionately known as Bonnie — into the car ahead of him before it came to a rest about 50 feet from the point of impact. He said he came away with just some bruises to one side.

The other car’s driver, 38-year-old Casey Lee Robins, of Burnsville, said he was stopped in traffic for at least 40 seconds before getting hit from behind.

“It was heavy congestion,” said Robins, who took a bump in the head from the impact on what was his birthday. “Everyone saw it but the policeman.”

Once the dust settled, Hammer said, the trooper “came out of his car and made sure I was OK. I gave him the thumbs up.”

Hammer said he got out of his totaled car, and the trooper “told me he was sorry. I asked him, ‘Hey, what happened?’ He said he was looking at his laptop. That just really sucked. If he wasn’t looking at it, [the crash] probably wouldn’t have happened.”

Bonnie was once his grandfather’s car, and now it’s totaled, Hammer said.

“It was my first car,” he said. “I put a lot of work into the car.”

Star Tribune staff writer Sean Baker contributed to this report.