Courts

Trempealeau County truck driver convicted in fatal Minnesota crash

Published

6 years ago

April 9, 2019

A Trempealeau County truck driver pleads guilty to vehicular homicide, for causing a crash that killed a college professor.

Samuel Hicks of Independence reached a plea agreement in Stillwater, Minnesota on Monday.

Hicks was driving a semi at over 60 miles an hour when he slammed into a stopped car at a Lake Elmo intersection last year.

The car’s driver, Robert Bursik of Amery, Wisconsin, was killed in the collision.

Bursik was a professor at a community college in Minnesota.

Police say video showed that Hicks was looking at his cellphone seconds before the crash.

Hicks will be sentenced in July, and could get 10 years in prison.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.