An Albert Lea man was charged Thursday for intentionally driving a minivan head-on into the vehicle his former girlfriend was driving Wednesday afternoon after he first tried to run her off the road.

Juan Dedios Trujillo, 49, faces three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, one for each of the people who were in the van he crashed into on Blake Avenue near Home Depot. They were taken to the emergency room at Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea for injuries.

Court documents state Trijuillo and the woman had broken up some time back and that he had allegedly popped the tires on her Cadillac earlier in the day. The woman also said he had threatened to kill her and her children earlier in the day.

She told police she was driving on Main Street headed to Home Depot when Trujillo caught up to her in a separate vehicle and tried to sideswipe her vehicle by driving his van closer and closer to her. He reportedly at one point was running her vehicle off the road.

She said Trujillo reportedly slammed his vehicle into hers with his front fender, and she slammed on the brakes and he passed her. He then reportedly stopped his vehicle.

Shortly after, he drove to the end of the road where Blake Avenue intersects with Southeast Marshall Street and then turned around, accelerating into the other vehicle head-on.

After the crash, a witness reportedly saw Trujillo limping and grabbing his knee as he ran away into a cornfield.

Two other witnesses were interviewed who reportedly either heard or saw the crash.

Authorities found Trujillo after a search of the cornfield with a drone and K-9 with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office.

In court Thursday, Freeborn County District Court Judge Ross Leuning set Trujillo’s conditional bail at $25,000 and issued a domestic abuse no contact order. 

Trujillo is next slated to appear in court Aug. 15.

 

See what happened last night in the PM report here.