Excessive drinking by a wrong-way driver is a suspected factor in a two-vehicle collision that occurred Saturday shortly after midnight in Eagan and resulted in fatal injuries to the driver, according to the State Patrol.
The patrol identified the driver as Nraughli Vang, 28, of South St. Paul.
According to the patrol:
Vang entered I-35E from Cliff Road but was heading north in his car in the southbound lanes. The car soon hit a southbound SUV head-on.
Emergency responders took Vang to Regions Hospital, where he died that day. The patrol said it suspects Vang was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
Three people in the SUV, members of an Albert Lea family, were taken by emergency responders to Regions.
A hospital spokesman said that as of Monday morning, passenger Desirae A. Heideman, 25, was in fair condition, as was her father, Randy J. Heideman, 57. Her mother, driver Nancy A. Heideman, 60, was discharged.
