Woman sentenced in 2010 texting-driving fatal

WASECA, Minn. (AP) — A New Richland woman who was texting while driving when she hit a motorcyclist in 2010 will have to serve 480 hours of community service as part of her sentence.

The Mankato Free Press reports 23-year-old Erica Nelson also was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution.

The motorcyclist, 58-year-old Ronald Berschman of Buffalo Center, Iowa, died in the crash.

Nelson pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony vehicular homicide.

According to court documents, Nelson was texting while driving on Aug. 29, 2010, when her car struck Berschman head-on on Highway 30, near New Richland.

Another motorist told authorities he saw Nelson’s car in the wrong lane before the crash.

Nelson earlier told investigators that she might have fainted at the time.