Charges: 21-year-old denied drunk driving in fatal Inver Grove Heights crash

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A 21-year-old drunk driver allegedly sped through a stop sign and killed a 42-year-old woman in a Honda minivan in Inver Grove Heights on Saturday afternoon, then cased the scene on-foot and denied driving at all, according to Dakota County charges.

The crash occurred around 3 p.m. at 70th Street and Dawn Avenue, where police found the minivan with severe driver’s side damage, the passenger side crunched into a power pole, which was on top of the van.

A retired Inver Grove Heights police officer was at home at the time of the crash and found the Roseville woman trapped inside without a pulse. When fire crews arrived, they advised all responders stay back until Xcel Energy crews shut off power. A near-empty bottle of rum was behind the driver’s seat of the Cadillac.

Police found Nicholas Anthony Indehar walking around near the crash site and said he smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech, watery, bloodshot eyes and was walking unsteadily. While being checked for injuries, Indehar “continually asked the officer what he was doing when the officer was speaking on his radio.  Indehar was very interested in what the officer was doing at all times. Indehar indicated to paramedics that he did not want to be transported to the hospital, saying he might go to the hospital on his own. Indehar began speaking with the paramedic about the fact that he does not drink and drive and even if he submitted to a breath test right then, he would not be over the legal limit,” charges said.

Indehar’s account of the crash was hard to follow and he “continually made statements about him not being over the legal limit and that he would take a test but that it did not matter because he was not driving anyways,” charges said.

One witness told police she saw Indehar moving around in the front seat of the Cadillac after the crash, told him turn off the car, but he didn’t listen. She added he got out of the car and stated, “I wasn’t driving.”

Indehar was arrested for DWI and said “something to the effect of wanting to take as much time as possible before taking a test,” charges said.

He has been charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide. He has a history of DWI, drug possession and minor consumption.