Star Tribune
Motorist dies from injuries suffered in pileup in Becker allegedly caused by pickup thief
A motorist has died after being severely injured in a crash in Sherburne County early this month that was caused by an unlicensed driver charged with fleeing a sheriff’s deputy in a stolen pickup truck.
Christopher James Vyskocil, 36, died late Monday afternoon after he was caught up in a multivehicle wreck in Becker, Minn., on Hwy. 10 near Liberty Lane, according to his wife.
“My husband was fully restored and entered through the pearly gates,” Brittany Vyskocil wrote on an online fundraising page started to help the family with expenses related to the crash. “My family is absolutely devastated with this loss.”
Christopher Vyskocil suffered major injuries to his head, according to the fundraising page.
Bradley Alfred Allen Johnson, 21, of Montrose, Minn., is due in District Court on Wednesday after being charged with one count of causing great bodily harm while fleeing police and various other counts in connection with the four-vehicle wreck. Johnson remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.
At the time of the crash, Johnson was driving after the state revoked his license, a Department of Public Safety spokesman said.
Court records show he has been convicted three times this year for the same offense, twice in a one-week span in May. He’s also been convicted twice this year for driving without insurance and was caught twice last year for speeding.
While still at the scene, Johnson admitted to ingesting heroin about five hours earlier, according to the criminal complaint. A law enforcement search of his clothing turned up drug paraphernalia, the complaint continued.
A sheriff’s deputy spotted a pickup truck that was reported stolen as it headed out of St. Cloud on eastbound Hwy. 10. The deputy started pursuing the pickup at speeds topping 100 miles per hour.
After entering Becker, the deputy saw that the pickup had struck a gasoline pump at a Speedway at Hwy. 10 and Liberty Lane.
A state trooper arrived and spotted Vyskocil’s badly damaged car on westbound Hwy. 10. An unconscious Vyskocil was in the vehicle. Emergency medical responders took him to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale.
An SUV was in the same lane as Vyskocil’s car. That driver survived her injuries. Johnson also suffered noncritical injuries.
Along with the one count of causing great bodily harm while fleeing a peace officer, Johnson is also charged with two felony counts and two gross misdemeanor counts each of criminal vehicular operation, receiving stolen property and fleeing a peace officer.
DULUTH — A Duluth man who said he doesn’t remember killing his girlfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent Tuesday in St. Louis County court — a plea deal that could land him in prison longer than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
Dale John Howard, 25, told Judge Theresa Neo that he doesn’t remember it but believes he caused the death of his girlfriend, Allisa Marie Vollan, 27, on March 22. Vollan, described on a fundraising site as a “bright young lady” with “an abundance of friends,” had a no-contact order against Howard at the time of her death. Howard could be sentenced to 20 years in prison — more than seven years longer than Minnesota’s presumptive guideline for the murder. According to the county attorney’s office, the longer sentence is legal because of the active domestic abuse no-contact order against him.
Howard’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14.
According to court documents, officers responded to a morning call at Howard’s Central Hillside apartment and found him beneath a blanket with Vollan, who was dead. He told officers that he had hung out with Vollan late the previous night, then left to meet friends at a bar, and Vollan went to sleep in a guest room. When he tried to move her into his bedroom the next morning, she wasn’t breathing. He called his father, who was at the apartment when Duluth police arrived.
Neighbors in the upper level of the duplex told officers that, in the time before Howard would have left for the bar, they heard a woman crying and an angry male voice. They heard muffled moaning, thuds and the sound of something being dragged. They recorded it.
A preliminary autopsy by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office found that Vollan had likely been smothered.
Earlier the same month, Howard had been arrested after neighbors saw him repeatedly slam Vollan’s head into a door. The no-contact was issued by a St. Louis County judge.
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
