Washington man charged with homicide for IC crash

IOWA CITY — Drake Brezina, a 24-year-old Washington man and teacher at Highland Elementary, is charged by the state of Iowa with homicide by vehicle and serious injury by vehicle for a car crash in Iowa City Aug. 7 that killed Wellman woman Kristina Pearson and seriously injured a passenger in her car.

The Iowa City Police Department filed a criminal complaint in the case Sept. 27, alleging that Brezina was responsible for the collision at the intersection of Highway 6 and Boyrum Street last month.

“I was able to see that the defendant was holding his cellphone in front of his face in the seconds leading up to the crash,” wrote two officers in affidavits, who said they had reviewed traffic camera footage from the scene. “Data from the defendant's cellphone shows he was on Facebook and Instagram prior to traveling. While near Highway 6 East and South Gilbert Street, the defendant sent and received messages over social media apps.”

The affidavits also said Brezina’s car was going roughly 44 mph in a 35 mph zone at the time of the crash, and that it entered the intersection 15 seconds after the light turned red.

Court records say Brezina was arrested early in the morning on Friday. He was released to the Department of Correctional services for “pretrial supervision,” around 8:30 a.m. the same day.

Arraignment and other court dates were not yet set as of Friday morning, according to a schedule search of Iowa Courts Online.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com