A 25-year-old Eagan man appeared in Dakota County District Court on Monday, charged with killing a friend and injuring two other people while driving 75 miles per hour in his BMW and causing a head-on crash in May 2008.
Matthew R. Willis was in critical condition after the crash on Hwy. 3 in Inver Grove Heights. Eric M. Nardini, 20, of Hershey, Neb., died at the crash site.
A criminal complaint alleges that Willis was driving north on Hwy. 3 when he crossed the center line about 11 a.m., colliding head-on with a sport-utility vehicle driven by Lynn M. Johnson, then 56, of Eagan. She suffered minor injuries. Her passenger, Pamela A. Donovan, then 49, of Eagan, was hospitalized for a week with brain trauma and fractures in her chest and neck.
A reconstruction found that Johnson's SUV was traveling 32 mph and that Willis' car was going 75 when he rounded a curve and skidded into the oncoming lane. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 50.
One witness told investigators she saw the car cross into oncoming traffic.
A second witness saw the BMW driving at a high speed and said she knew that it was going too fast to negotiate the curve, the complaint said. That witness reported hearing screeching tires and watching in her rear-view mirror as the vehicles collided.
On Monday, Willis appeared in court in Hastings on one count of criminal vehicular homicide and two counts of criminal vehicular homicide causing great harm. All are felonies.
He was released on his own recognizance with an evidentiary hearing set for March.
JOY POWELL
