Nicole
E.
AndersenBy Shannon Fiecke

Correspondent

The same man accused of killing a Lakeville woman while driving under the influence this week is still awaiting trial for hitting a Savage police officer while driving drunk last year.

According to police, Lee A. Eisenbraun of Carlos, Minn., ran a stop sign on County Road 8 shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, T-boning a minivan driven by 37-year-old Nicole E. Andersen.

Andersen — a mother of two boys and manager of three local real-estate offices — was pronounced dead at the scene. She was turning left onto the county road from Highway 13 when she was struck by a pickup truck driven by Eisenbraun.

Eisenbraun, 47, was treated for minor injuries. He is being held in Scott County Jail on felony charges of Lee Eisenbrauncriminal vehicular homicide.

He also faces multiple charges in Dakota County for a July 11, 2006 drunken-driving incident that occurred near the Savage/Burnsville border. Eisenbraun allegedly hit Eric McAbee as the Savage police officer made a traffic stop on Highway 13. The charges against Eisenbraun for that incident include: criminal vehicular operation resulting the bodily harm and leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of fourth-degree DWI, careless driving and failure to yield for an emergency vehicle.

 McAbee suffered neck and back strain from the crash, and his squad car was left inoperable. That case is still making its way through the court system, and a jury trial hasn’t been set yet.

Authorities say alcohol was also a factor in this week’s crash in rural Scott County, on the border of Spring Lake and Cedar Lake townships. It is unclear why Eisenbraun, who lives near Alexandria, was in the area.

When Scott County deputies arrived at the accident scene, they found Andersen in her seat, unresponsive.

 Eisenbraun was standing outside his vehicle, in the ditch. He told deputies he had ran the stop sign and hit the van. “I think I feel asleep or something,” he said, according to the criminal complaint. “I think I killed her.”

Deputies smelled alcohol on Eisenbraun’s breath and noted that his eyes were bloodshot and speech slurred. He performed poorly on field sobriety tests and tested at 0.07 percent on a preliminary breath test, according to the report.

A blood sample was taken and sent for analysis to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

A Minnesota State Patrol investigation showed that Eisenbraun failed to stop and struck the driver’s-side door of Andersen’s vehicle.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Scott County District Court, Eisenbraun’s driving privileges had been revoked from last year’s incident.

Services

A Scott County native, Andersen attended school in the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District and studied accounting at Normandale Community College. She was married and had two sons, 5 and 9 years old.

Andersen was the general manager for the RE/MAX Advantage Plus offices in Savage, Shakopee and Lakeville.

Broker Jan Geis said Andersen was very active at her church and was a hard-working, dependable person. “She did the job of 10 people,” Geis said.

A funeral service for Andersen was held 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Holy Trinity United Methodist Church, 16150 Arcadia Ave., in Prior Lake.

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.