The man who caused a fatal crash that killed Twin Cities’ restaurateur David Burley on Interstate 94 in Hudson, Wis., last month faces an additional homicide charge after a toxicology test shows he had a blood-alcohol concentration well over the legal limit to drive, according to a recent court filing.
David Burley, co-founder of Blue Plate Restaurant Company, died when his motorcycle was struck by a car near Hudson on Sunday afternoon, April 6, 2025. (Courtesy of Fluence Media)
Law enforcement suspected that Andre Lamont Mathews was intoxicated in the April 6 afternoon crash that killed Burley, the co-founder of Blue Plate Restaurant Co., who was driving his motorcycle. Burley, who grew up in Perth, Australia, was 58 and lived in Minnetonka.
Mathews, 33, of Brooklyn Park, was charged the next day with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle as a repeat offender.
According to the criminal complaint, Mathews would not submit to an evidentiary test of his blood. A Wisconsin State Trooper applied for and received a search warrant to draw his blood for testing.
The toxicology test by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene showed Mathews’ blood alcohol level was 0.134, according to an amended complaint filed this month that adds a charge of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration. The legal limit to drive in Wisconsin is 0.08.
Beyond the BAC, no new details of the crash are included in the amended complaint.
The crash happened at 2:48 p.m. on westbound I-94 at milepost 1. Two people reported seeing Mathews’ vehicle, a 2011 Infiniti G25, “operating at a high rate of speed and weaving in and out of traffic for several miles prior to the crash,” the complaint states.
An investigation indicates Mathews was in the right lane and attempted to overtake traffic by using the right shoulder and then struck a guardrail, causing his car to veer back into the right lane, where it collided with Burley’s motorcycle, according to the Wisconsin State Patrol. Both Mathews’ car and Burley’s motorcycle “traveled across the roadway” and struck the median concrete barrier, the state patrol said.
Burley and Mathews were brought to Regions Hospital, where Burley died the same day. A trooper saw that his helmet had damage to the front and right rear.
Andre Lamont Mathews in an August 2018 booking photo. (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
A trooper met with Mathews in a trauma room at the hospital. He “appeared to be disoriented and lethargic,” was not answering questions appropriately “and stated he did not know where he was or if he was driving,” the complaint states.
St. Croix County prosecutors are seeking a longer sentence for Mathews, if he’s convicted, due to a past offense. He was sentenced for possession of cocaine in Hennepin County in 2018.
Prosecutors in mid-April also filed three other cases against Mathews in connection with the crash: failure to keep a vehicle under control, failure to wear a seat belt and refusal to take a test for intoxication after arrest.
He’s due back in court June 23 on all the cases.
“It’s a very sad situation,” his attorney, Rachael Goldberger, said Friday. “And we don’t have any discovery yet. Once we get that, we’ll go through it.”
After working together as servers at the Nicollet Island Inn in Minneapolis during the 1990s, Burley and Stephanie Shimp opened the Highland Grill on St. Paul’s Cleveland Avenue, followed by a series of other local restaurants under the title Blue Plate Restaurant Co., including the Groveland Tap, Longfellow Grill, Edina Grill, The Lowry, The Blue Barn at the Minnesota State Fair and The Freehouse.
Related Articles
Maplewood shooting: St. Paul man fired on car while kids cowered nearby, charges say
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers say ex-assistant’s social media posts undercut her rape allegation
Bloodhounds hunting ‘Devil in the Ozarks’ fugitive are seen as key part of manhunt
Wedding photographer sentenced for surreptitiously recording bride changing clothes
Derrick Thompson’s trial begins in deaths of 5 women
Leave a Reply