Sheriff’s Office: Driver, 19, passing illegally on Wright County road causes deadly collision

A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.

SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.

The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed in order to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.

The Sheriff’s Office said reports have been forwarded to the County Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges against the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Albertville, Minn.

According to the affidavit and the Sheriff’s Office:

Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with Kabunangu, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.

“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.

As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.

Kabunangu acknowledged that the center line on the road was “dotted before the collision, but by the time he got to where the [SUV] was, the line was solid,” according to the affidavit.

A man in the car with Kabunangu sustained broken bones and internal bleeding. Officials made no mention of whether Kabunangu was injured.