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NU woman in fatal crash faces misdemeanor charges

NEW ULM — A New Ulm woman involved in a fatal vehicle-pedestrian crash last fall that took the life of a 63-year-old man faces misdemeanor charges of careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian in Brown County District Court.

According to court documents, a vehicle driven by Tammy L. Waibel, 49, 1101 N. Payne St., was northbound on Broadway at about 4:25 p.m. Nov. 1, 2018, near the 6th North Street intersection when she struck Schmidt in the left-side traffic lane. Schmidt suffered fatal injuries in the crash.

Waibel told police she was looking at a group of kids, concerned they may enter the street, at the time of the crash.

Two witnesses told New Ulm Police Sgt. Jay Backer that the vehicle did not appear to slow down prior to the crash. One witness said Waibel was the only occupant in the vehicle but that Waibel got out of her car after the crash and that Waibel’s husband arrived at the scene very shortly afterwards, about the time responders arrived.

A witness said Waibel was not on her phone after getting out of her vehicle.

Another witness said the pedestrian would have been in a crosswalk had there been one.

Minnesota State Trooper Kyle Froehlich talked to another witness who said the crash took place at about 4:14 p.m. Waibel’s cell phone records indicated her cell phone was being used at 4:13:31 on a call that lasted 146 seconds, which would have covered the time of the crash.

A crash reconstruction concluded that Waibel would have had time to stop to avoid hitting the pedestrian at the speed she was traveling after the pedestrian left the sidewalk.

Waibel was summoned to a court arraignment at 9 a.m. Friday, May 31.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.

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