Authorities say a Muscatine, Iowa, man played with a McDonald's toy, rather than paying attention to the road, just before a fatal crash in February.
Brandon S. Reddick, 20, is charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle and two counts of serious injury by vehicle in a Feb. 15 crash on U.S. 52, near the line between Dubuque and Jackson counties. Each count involves reckless driving, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday.
The complaint charges that Reddick steered with his knees while using his hands to play a video game toy that came out of a McDonald's Happy Meal. With his eyes off the road, he drifted over the line and collided head-on with another car, killing two passengers and seriously wounding the driver, records state. The passenger in Reddick's car also was seriously injured.
The driver of the other car, Kole Patters, was 15 at the time. His grandparents, Donald Weber, 71, and Mary Ann Weber, 66, were killed in the crash. Patters was airlifted to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Reddick's passenger, Krystal
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The Webers' daughter, Julie Davis, said the court process will be difficult for everyone involved.
"As a family, we're going to stick together through this," Davis said. "At this point, we're all still digesting it. We're still trying to figure all this out."
Reddick told authorities that the accident was his fault, but he didn't remember how it happened.
Nearly eight months passed before the charges were handed down. Dubuque Assistant County Attorney Mark Hostager said in June that he was waiting to wrap up a few loose ends before filing charges.
Prosecutors included the testimony of people from other vehicles in the complaint. One man told police that he saw Reddick's Ford Thunderbird swerve into the oncoming lane as he passed St. Catherine, Iowa, on U.S. 52. About a half-mile north of the Jackson County line, witnesses saw Reddick swerve again into the oncoming lane. That's when he collided with Patters' car.
Clark told police that they were driving south on U.S. 52 after stopping at McDonald's in Key West, where she ordered a Happy Meal. A moment before the crash, she looked up and saw that Reddick wasn't paying attention to the road, according to the complaint.
Reddick was arrested Tuesday night in Marshalltown, Iowa, northeast of Des Moines. His current address is a dormitory on the Marshalltown Community College campus. The local sheriff's department confirmed that Reddick was released on a $15,000 cash bond.
Attempts to reach Reddick were unsuccessful.
Reddick faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all the charges.
