Charges: Wis. woman was Facebook chatting before crash that killed three kids

[azurnoir]

Source: strib

A western Wisconsin woman was chatting on social media while driving just before a car crash near Prescott, Wis., that killed three young children in December 2013, police said.

Kari J. Milberg, 34, faces three counts of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle and one count of reckless driving after police say she was active on Facebook while behind the wheel. Cellphone records show that Milberg was sending and receiving Facebook messages until two minutes before the crash, said Pierce County investigators.

Police believe distracted driving was a significant contributing factor in the incident.

Milberg’s SUV spun out of control and slid into the path of an oncoming truck on Dec. 12, 2013. Her 11-year-old daughter, Lydia, died at the scene, while her 5-year-old nieces died at area hospitals. Milberg and her 3-year-old son, Easton, survived.



Read more: http://www.startribune.com/local/east/295072111.html

[mercuryblues]

1. please people

do not text and drive.

You can download and ap (and some phones come with one) That automatically sends a reply text. "I am driving right now, I will get back to you as soon as I safely can"

My youngest has known how to use my phone since he was 8 or 9. I call him my co-pilot. I hand him the phone when I get in the car.

[sdfernando]

4. Do nothing with you cell phone while driving....

That said, you made a comment "My youngest has known how to use my phone since he was 8 or 9. I call him my co-pilot. I hand him the phone when I get in the car" and it made me think...I wonder if the 11 year old was the one using the phone? I don't know, I haven't looked into this case. Hopefully the investigators have a way to confirm the mother was the one actually doing the texting.

Still, very sad the children died.

[awoke_in_2003]

24. The only way it will stop...

is fine drivers $500 and a night in jail for the first offense. It may seem harsh, but you are driving a 2 ton machine that can kill people.

[Jefferson23]

2. How in the hell anyone imagines they can drive a car and text is frightening. They become addicted

to the text? I don't understand it. I won't even talk on a phone while driving never mind text.

[Ex Lurker]

5. Look in the windows of passing cars at night

more often than not, you'll see the blue glow of a phone.

[Jefferson23]

6. I have seen that! They were not teens, either, but adults. n/t

[abelenkpe]

11. At almost every intersection I see people looking down

at their phones. Phones should be disabled automatically while the vehicle is in motion. Some navigation apps do that. Others, like Facebook and texting apps in general should as well.

[Plucketeer]

13. Never mind the blue light

you can see the drivers looking down instead of at the road ahead. Truly scary stuff. Driving is like playing Russian Roulette with more than one bullet!

[frylock]

20. i ride a motorcycle, and split lanes on the freeway..

the cars that are moving back and forth within their lane and crowding the divider are almost invariably drivers dicking around on their phones.

[hollysmom]

3. shaking my head - facebook - really?

[pansypoo53219]

7. isn't that too old to act like a teenager?

[ileus]

8. nope 34 is the new 14...

[Enrique]

9. just today I was driving on a highway

I could somehow tell that an SUV entering the highway ahead of me from the right was not paying attention, and in fact they did not turn sharp enough, so they went halfway into the lane I was driving in. Sure enough, he had a phone in one hand so not only was he distracted, but he couldn't turn as well either since they only had one hand free. I felt lucky I saw them ahead of time so I was able to slow down.

[guillaumeb]

10. I was in my car this mornigg and I

was listening to the radio, writing a note to myself, eating a breakfast sandwich and looking for another station at the same time. Did I mention that the car was in my driveway?

Seriously though, while driving the other day I observed another driver proceed through a red light while texting. Luckily no accident. No shortage of overconfident, incompetent, oblivious fools driving.

[murielm99]

12. You have the right idea.

I must be getting old, but I have to tell you that if I am driving in an unfamiliar area, or if road conditions are bad, I turn off the radio and everything else so I can concentrate solely on driving.

[CTyankee]

28. good lord, yes. I can barely get myself together in all this snow.

After I clean the snow off the car, I concentrate on my driving and the road conditions. I don't go out until there is some let up in the storm. It is bad out there. Lots of snow and ice. I have to be super vigilant and prepared.

[Nye Bevan]

17. Time to start treating texting and driving the same as DUI.

Arrest, court date, and mandatory license suspension.

[JudyM]

29. +1 in a big way. n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

14. A very bad idea .... but

"records show that Milberg was sending and receiving Facebook messages until two minutes before the crash"

That kind of suggests that something else caused the crash.

[jeff47]

18. She could have been typing

They only show up in "records" when you hit "send".

[NJCher]

15. latest cell phone atrocity around here was

a couple days ago when a woman dropped off her 64-year old mother. You know how, when you drop someone off, you often wait until the person gets to the door before leaving? She waited for her mother to get to the door, but instead of actually watching her mother go up the walk, she decided to consult her cell phone. She looked up, didn't see her mother at the door or in the walk, and figured she was in the house.

Wrong-O.

Her mother was behind the car and she backed over her, killing her.

Read this in the NY Daily News. The story also said it took her a long time, a really long time, to calm down, as reported by the police.




Cher

[Nye Bevan]

16. iPhone users can say "Hey Siri, read my text messages" when a text comes in,

and if your iPhone is plugged into a charger, Siri will read you the text. You can then say a reply to the text if you want and Siri will send it. And this will be through your Bluetooth if you have that in your car.

[murielm99]

19. I have relatives in Prescott.

I will have to see if they know the family, or know anything about this. Prescott is not a large town.

[singingbiscuit]

21. Why is THIS not the main story:

"Police found prescription oxycodone in her purse; a blood report later showed that Milberg had therapeutic levels of oxycodone and a sedative known as midazolam in her system at the time of the crash."

-- from the linked Star Tribune report

Two minutes before the crash she could have been parked and using Facebook safely, but the drugs are buried way down in the story.

Now that texting-while-driving is the sexy topic of the day, we're forgetting about the thousands of people driving under the influence of prescription drugs every day.

The caution about operating vehicles on the side of all those prescription bottles is frequently treated as just a suggestion, and DUI laws are vague and inconsistent when dealing with legal script drugs.

[greyl]

22. Good points. nt

[MissDeeds]

25. Horrific and inexcusable all the way around

This woman should be in a cell for years with the children's photos on the walls.

[singingbiscuit]

26. Well, she will no doubt spend the rest of her life paying

in some way or other. I'm just interested in how our focus is manipulated.

My Google search of Kari J. Millberg pulled up 9 items on the first page; 7 of them had "Facebook" in the headline or teaser, only one was about the drugs and was from drugs-forum.com. The other didn't list either.

[MissDeeds]

27. That is amazing

Our news does indeed go through some sort of a filter. Sheesh...

[valerief]

23. This shit makes me so angry. It's not bad enough that everyone tailgates. They also have to

not watch where they're driving because god forbid they get bored.

[Tom Ripley]

30. No Like for this idiot