Woman sentenced for distracted driving crash that killed Blaine Police Officer, U of M prof.

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An 18-year-old woman was sentenced Tuesday for her role in a crash that killed a Blaine Police Officer and a University of Minnesota professor in Elk River last June.

The Sherburne County District Court gave Callison Mae Olson a stayed sentence after a plea agreement that ultimately charged her with one count of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of reckless driving. Olson plead guilty to both remaining charges. She initially faced two counts of each charge. 

She will serve 60 days in jail and will be on supervised probation for three years with a number of conditions, including distracted driving-related public speaking engagements and not being allowed to drive for the duration of her probation.

According to a release from Sherburne County, the then 17-year-old was distracted by her cell phone and veered into the oncoming lanes of traffic, hitting the motorcycle and killing Steve and Susie Nanney on Twin Lakes Road in Elk River, Minnesota last June. 

Steve Nanney, a 10-year veteran of the Blaine Police Department, worked as a school resource officer at Blaine High School. He was someone that many students looked up to, according to Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany.   

Susie Nanney was an associate professor in the Family Medicine and Community Health Department at the University of Minnesota.

Podany also gave a victim impact statement at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.