After the driver’s death, a new charge is added to the unlicensed driver who caused a pile-up in Becker

A driver was killed with serious injuries in a traffic accident in Sherburne County earlier this month. The accident was caused by an unlicensed driver who is accused of fleeing from a deputy in a stolen pickup truck.

Christopher James Vyskocil, 36, died late Monday afternoon after being involved in a multi-vehicle crash in Becker, Minnesota, on Highway 10 near Liberty Lane, according to his wife.

“My husband has fully recovered and passed through the gates of heaven,” Brittany Vyskocil wrote on an online fundraising page set up to help her and her four children cope with costs associated with the crash. “My family is absolutely devastated by this loss.”

Christopher Vyskocil suffered significant brain injuries, his wife said.

Bradley Alfred Allen Johnson, 21, of Montrose, Minnesota, appeared in District Court on Wednesday after being charged with fleeing police in a vehicle and negligent homicide, as well as several other counts in connection with the four-vehicle crash.

Johnson remains jailed on $100,000 bail and is due back in court on September 11. A message was left with his attorney requesting comment on the charges.

A Department of Public Safety spokesman said Johnson was driving at the time of the accident, even though the state had revoked his driver’s license.

According to court records, he has been convicted of the same offense three times this year, twice within a week in May. He was also convicted twice this year of driving without insurance and was caught twice last year for speeding.

At the crime scene, Johnson admitted to having taken heroin about five hours earlier, the indictment states. When police searched his clothing, drug paraphernalia was found, the indictment states.

Brittany Vyskocil, a nurse at the St. Cloud VA Medical Center, said Tuesday that she arrived at the scene of the accident “knowing I wasn’t going to bring my husband home.”

She said that while it was frustrating that Johnson continued to drive despite having his license revoked multiple times, “I know that at some point I will have to forgive him. … That day will come, but not today.”

According to the indictment:

A sheriff’s deputy spotted a reported stolen pickup truck heading east out of St. Cloud on Highway 10. The deputy began pursuing the pickup at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

After entering Becker, the deputy saw that the pickup truck had struck a gas pump on a freeway at the intersection of Highway 10 and Liberty Lane.

A police officer arrived and found Vyskocil’s heavily damaged car heading west on Highway 10. An unconscious Vyskocil was inside the vehicle. Paramedics took him to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale.

An SUV was traveling in the same lane as Vyskocil’s car. The driver survived her injuries. Johnson also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.