Dad who lost son in ‘12 crash to speak at TAHS on Friday

Brad Bigler, whose 5-month-old son, Drake, was killed in a July 2012 car crash caused by a drunk driver, will speak about making good decisions with a focus on the dangers of drinking and driving at an 8 a.m. assembly at Tracy Area High School on Friday.
The public is invited.
Bigler, who coaches the men’s basketball team at Southwest Minnesota State University, and his family, have become public advocates against drunk driving. He, along with his wife Heather’s grandmother were seriously injured in the crash.
The driver of the vehicle that collided with the Bigler’s SUV, Dana Schoen of Starbuck, had a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.351 — four times the legal limit in Minnesota. After agreeing to a plea deal, he was sentenced in January 2013 to four years in prison for criminal vehicular homicide.
On July 28, Schoen’s truck crossed the center line into oncoming traffic on Minnesota Highway 29 near Starbuck in Pope County and crashed into the passenger side of Bigler’s vehicle. The force of the collision took off the entire passenger side of the vehicle and forced the SUV into the ditch.