Driver in May 2010 fatal crash charged with felony

The driver who caused a May 2010 crash that killed a Lake City man has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide, a felony.

The crash took place in the early morning of May 3, 2010, just north of the Hastings bridge.

Anthony Lloyd Mancheski, a 20-year-old Maplewood, Minn., man, was charged last month in Washington County. The four-car crash killed Brian Jacobson, a Lake City resident and 1993 graduate of Red Wing Central High School. Jacobson, who was married and has two children, was a member of the National Guard and served two tours in Iraq as part of the 434th Chemical Co.

According to the complaint, Mancheski was running late for work on that morning. He had been late in the past and was warned not to be tardy again. He was supposed to be at work — his employer was not named in the report — by 6:25 a.m., and the crash occurred at 6:20 a.m.

The complaint says that Mancheski was driving erratically, weaving in and out of traffic and traveling at high speeds. After performing an accident reconstruction, a member of the State Patrol estimated Mancheski was traveling between 83 and 89 mph as he passed vehicles heading into Hastings on Highway 61.

A witness said Mancheski’s BMW “whizzed past” her and his rate of speed “spooked” her.

When two lanes of traffic begin to merge into one, Mancheski weaved from one side of the road to the other to pass drivers, lost control and hit another vehicle, according to the complaint. Both vehicles crossed into oncoming traffic and hit Jacobson’s car head-on. The other two drivers had minor injuries. All three were wearing seat belts.

Another driver whose vehicle also was struck by Mancheski’s car suffered no injuries.

Mancheski has seen further offenses since the crash.

Three weeks after the May crash, he was cited for speeding in Cottage Grove, Minn., and again for speeding in December and in May.

On Sept. 11, he was arrested on suspicion of DWI after crashing into a tree in Maplewood.

Jacobson, who was 34 at the time of his death, joined the Army right out of high school. His friend Steve Kreps told the Republican Eagle that Jacobson was a devoted family man, a proud, intelligent soldier and a loyal friend.

Jacobson was a staff sergeant in the Army National Guard.

“He was definitely one of our own,” Goodhue County Veterans Service Officer Bob Davis said in May 2010.

-- Chad Richardson of the Hastings Star Gazette contributed to this report.

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