Truck driver charged in couple's death, officials say he was streaming Netflix before crash

A truck driver has been charged in the death of an Iowa couple after details emerged that he was watching a show on Netflix while driving, resulting in a car accident that killed the two in Minnesota.

Billy Joe Grimes, 55, a commercial truck driver from Lansing, Tennessee is "facing two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and a single count of criminal vehicular operation," the Rice County Attorney’s Office said in a news release Sunday.

The attorney's office said that Grimes, who has five years of experience, was driving close to a construction zone on Interstate 35 near Faribault in August 2023 when his semi struck a Toyota Camry and a Chevrolet pickup pulling a flatbed trailer. The Camry was crushed in the collision and fell into a ditch.

"The semi and pickup continued into the ditch, through a barbed wire fence and up to railroad tracks east of the interstate," authorities said.

Witnesses and passersby attempted to rescue the couple from the Camry but were unsuccessful. The woman was found deceased, said the witnesses, while the male driver had a weak pulse. However, it was "undetectable just minutes later," said the attorney's office. The couple, both in their 50s, were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident, according to the crash report.

The driver of the Chevrolet pickup also received minor injuries, including a "bump on his head and pain in his shoulders".

The attorney's office did not specify if Grimes was injured in the accident.

Driver denied using phone

Grimes told witnesses present on the scene that he looked down just before the crash and when he looked back up, the "car was right in front of him and that he was unable to stop because of the heavy load he was hauling," per the attorney's office. Grimes gave authorities a similar account and denied using his phone before the accident.

He reportedly told a trooper that his phone had been downloading an episode of "Rust Valley Restorers" from Netflix and that he was planning to watch it later, Fox 9 reported, citing charging documents.

However, when authorities investigated the accident and reviewed the semi-truck's dash cam footage and videos from roadside cameras, they determined that Grimes was streaming a Netflix show on his phone as the crash happened, the local news outlets reported. Video footage also showed that in the 5 miles leading up to the site of the crash, there were 5 signs − two with flashing lights − each placed a mile apart warning drivers of the upcoming construction and merging of traffic, said the attorney's office.

Meanwhile, ten seconds before the crash, traffic in both the lanes had slowed or stopped. Grimes, however, continued driving towards the construction site at a speed of 66-67 mph, according to the attorney's office. The crash reconstructionist, investigating the incident, also discovered that Grimes did not use the brakes before colliding with the victims' vehicles.

Investigators ultimately concluded that Grimes had been streaming the Netflix show for at least 20 minutes leading up to, and during the crash causing him to be distracted, according to Fox 9. The media outlet also reported that audio from "Rust Valley Restorers" can be heard playing in the dash cam footage.

Authorities also investigated the vehicle for any mechanical issues, reported Fox 9, and found everything to be in order. The weather at the time was also sunny and dry ruling out external factors such as slippery roads.

“There was ample space for Grimes to perceive the slow-moving traffic ahead, to slow down and avoid colliding into the rear of the Toyota and Chevrolet pulling the trailer,” Rice County Attorney Brian Mortenson wrote in the criminal complaint, according to the news release.

The Rice County Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for an update on the charges and if Grimes has been apprehended.

Information about Grimes' legal representation was not immediately available.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.