Man Pleads Guilty for Fatal Alcohol Involved Crash

(KNSI) – A 58-year-old Rice man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide following a fatal crash last year.

Police say Ricky Freitag was behind the wheel of a Ford F-150 pickup truck the evening of February 12th, 2020, when he lost control on an icy patch of road on Highway 15 near County Road 8 in Maine Prairie Township and crashed into a Buick Regal driven by 67-year-old Donald Heid, killing him. Police say he was under the influence at the time of the crash and arrested Freitag, but he was released two days later without charges.

In May of 2020, Freitag was arrested again and charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide after investigators determined Freitag was driving too fast for the conditions, along with driving under the influence. Snow had blanketed the area, and winds were blowing at over 30 miles an hour that day. Freitag pleaded not guilty in October, and a trial date was set for August.

Sentencing for Freitag is set for October 25th.

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