17 July 2023
A 35-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged with driving drunk and hitting two people on a Columbia Heights sidewalk last week, killing one and critically injuring the other.
Cody John Jazdzewski (Courtesy of Anoka County sheriff’s office)
Cody John Jazdzewski was driving a 1998 BMW convertible south on Central Avenue when he left the road near 39th Avenue about 10:30 p.m. and struck Carrie Lynn Rivero and James Junior Beller, according to an Anoka County criminal complaint and the Minnesota State Patrol.
Rivero, 58, of Minneapolis, died at the scene. Beller, 63, of Minneapolis, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
A State Patrol trooper dispatched to the scene found Jazdzewski’s badly damaged car up against a tree. Jazdzewski, who had bloodshot, watery eyes and slurred his speech, admitted to drinking alcohol before driving, the complaint said.
A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood‐alcohol concentration of 0.131, the complaint said. The Minnesota legal limit to drive is 0.08. He consented to a blood draw, which has been forwarded to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for laboratory analysis.
Jazdzewski was treated for minor injuries at HCMC, then booked into the Anoka County jail.
Reminders of the crash remained Monday afternoon. A downed metal fence and light pole were in a yard. Tires marks ran over the curb and across the sidewalk, while brick on the side of an insurance office showed where Jazdzewski’s BMW swiped the building.
Jazdzewski was charged with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation, causing great bodily harm while under the influence of alcohol. He’s due back in court Aug. 16.
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