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Truck driver charged in deaths of 2 women killed by boulder

Truck driver charged in deaths of 2 women killed by boulder | iNFOnews.ca
This undated photo provided by the Dakota County Sheriff's Office in Hastings, Minn., shows Joseph Czeck, who has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation after a mother and daughter were killed when an 800-pound boulder fell from the truck that police say he was driving and smashed into their car Monday, July 9, 2018, in Rosemount, Minn. Hastings was arrested after police found his landscaping truck Wednesday night. (Dakota County Sheriff's Office via AP) A
Original Publication Date: July 13, 2018 7:13AM
Publication Updated: April 22, 2025 10:53PM

HASTINGS, Minn. – Investigators say a man has been charged in the deaths of a mother and daughter who were killed when a boulder fell from the man’s truck and smashed into their car in suburban St. Paul.

Thirty-three-year-old Joseph Czeck (sek) was charged Friday with four felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. Investigators say an 800-pound (360-kilogram) boulder fell from the truck he was driving Monday in Rosemount, Minnesota.

Czech appeared in court Friday. An unconditional bail was set at $70,000.

Sixty-seven-year-old Karen Christiansen and her 32-year-old daughter, Jena Christiansen, died at the scene.

Czeck, of Hastings, was arrested after police found his landscaping truck Wednesday night. Rosemount Police Chief Mitchell Scott says it isn’t clear whether Czeck was aware that the boulder had fallen.

Defence attorney Tayler Rahm declined comment.

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Abbey Westbury

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