A 21-year-old Minneapolis man had a blood-alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit when he allegedly sped through a red light and rammed his car into another in Brooklyn Center, killing both people in the other vehicle.

Yeng Vue was charged on Tuesday with two counts of criminal vehicular operation. According to the criminal complaint, Vue told a State Patrol trooper that he had been drinking beer and hard liquor Saturday at a friend's house in Minneapolis before the crash on 57th Avenue N. near Hwy. 100.

A breath test at the scene registered Vue's blood-alcohol content at 0.182 percent. The legal definition for drunken driving in Minnesota is 0.08 percent.

Killed in the fiery crash were Jessica Vallis, 21, of Brooklyn Center, and George Kaffey, 22, of Bloomington.

Vue also was wanted on warrants in connection with a drunken-driving charge in Hennepin County in July -- when he wasn't yet legally old enough to drink -- and for driving after having his license suspended, court records show.

The victims' car had just exited Hwy. 100 on 57th when the crash happened.

Vue and his passenger, Choua Yang, 29, of Brooklyn Center, were slightly hurt.

Vue "mumbled mostly incoherent responses to questions" from a Brooklyn Center police officer, according to the criminal complaint. Yang, who owned the car that Vue was driving, was walking away from the scene when police stopped him, the complaint continued. He was jailed briefly and hasn't been charged with a crime.

"Emotionally, it's just really hard to comprehend how to feel about [Vue]. I'm trying to be understanding why somebody could be so stupid as to have anything to drink and then hop in a thousand-pound bullet that could kill somebody," Jessica Vallis' father, Richard Vallis of Menomonie, Wis., said Tuesday,

Prosecution of the case is being moved to Dakota County because of a "conflict of interest" that the Hennepin County attorney's office declined to explain.

On the night of the accident, Vallis picked up Kaffey after he finished working, and they were heading to her house when they were killed, said Peter Kaffey, George Kaffey's older brother.

George Kaffey, who worked for a Marshalls department store and had attended the Minnesota College of Business, emigrated from Liberia as a boy with his family.

He and Vallis graduated from Robbinsdale Armstrong High School in Plymouth in 2008. She worked at the North Ridge Care Home in New Hope and was a student at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, family members said.

Her brother Josh Vallis, 25, of Grand Rapids, Minn., said that his sister and Kaffey had dated for some time and had broken up, but lately "had been talking about getting back together again -- they were still friends."

Services for Vallis are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church, 5530 42nd Av. N., Robbinsdale. Visitation will start at 9 a.m. at the church.

In addition to her father, she is survived by her mother, Cori Aanerud-Vallis; brothers Josh and Erik; twin sister, Amanda; and half-brothers Ricky and Ryan.

Funeral information for Kaffey is pending.

Star Tribune staff writer Joy Powell contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482