MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A St. Paul woman who hit and killed an Augsburg College student last October, then fled the scene, will spend three years in prison.
Teisha Yvonne Randle, 27, was sentenced in Hennepin County Court Monday in connection with the October 2012 crash that killed 20-year-old Austin Conley. At the time of the incident, Conley was a 20-year-old freshman at Augsburg.
According to court documents, Randle said she was celebrating her pregnancy when she mixed wine with a painkiller, drove fast through downtown Minneapolis and hit Conley with her vehicle. She actually hit him twice, once sending him flying into the air and then running him over after he hit the ground. Conley was in a crosswalk when he was hit and dragged about one third of a block.
Randle said she told police she heard a loud crash and that her windshield exploded. She thought someone threw a rock at her car and she kept driving, the complaint states.
Randle’s attorney said she ended her pregnancy after she was charge with two felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. She was sentenced to 36 months in jail on Monday. After the sentencing, Conley’s father said Randle reached out to the family and apologized for the incident.
“She apologized to us and expressed sorrow, and so I don’t want to judge and say she wasn’t remorseful,” said Earl Conley. “It’s not my place to judge. This is something that this young woman has to live with for the remainder of her life. The community was hurt by this. This is a tragedy that affects a lot of people.
Earl Conley said even though justice was served Monday with the sentencing, he said it won’t bring his son back, that there are no winners in this, and their focus now is just on trying to repair their family and heal.
