Criminal charges filed in Winona pedestrian fatality - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Criminal charges filed in Winona pedestrian fatality

WINONA, Minn. (AP) -- A man accused of striking and killing an elderly woman walking to church in Winona is charged with vehicular homicide.

Prosecutors say 20-year-old Robert John Tofstad was driving into bright sun with frosted windows when he struck 85-year-old Ruth Doris Brendel last February.

The Winona Daily News says Brendel had just stepped out from between cars in the middle of the block on her way to St. Martin's Lutheran Church when she was hit. She died at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

A vehicular homicide conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The Minnesota City man is also charged with underage drinking and driving and careless driving.

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