Driver suspected of being high when he caused collision near Twin Cities that killed his passenger
Law enforcement suspects that a driver was under the influence of an illicit drug and speeding when he caused a head-on crash south of the Twin Cities last week and killed his passenger, according to a court document filed Monday.
The collision occurred north of Lanesburgh Township around 2:45 a.m. Thursday, the Le Sueur County Sheriff's Office said.
Kyle Wayne Peterson, 35, of Bethel, was heading north in a car on County Road 3, crossed the center line and struck a southbound pickup truck head-on, the Sheriff's Office said.
Peterson's passenger, Ronald Alan Otterstrom, 72, of Shoreview, was taken by emergency responders to an emergency room in New Prague and died about 30 minutes later, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.
The driver of the pickup, Adam Lane Wacholz, 30, and his wife, Whitney Marie Wacholz, 31, both of New Richland, Minn., survived their injuries, according to the Sheriff's Office. Whitney Wacholz is a lieutenant with the Freeborn County Sheriff's Office, an official with that agency said.
Peterson also survived the crash and was taken to North Memorial Health Hospital, where law enforcement collected samples of his blood to test for drug impairment. Test results are pending.
According to a search warrant affidavit that cleared the way for Peterson's blood to be turned over:
The couple in the pickup saw Peterson's car coming toward them "at a very high rate of speed" before it crossed over the center line and struck them head-on. There were no skid marks to suggest Peterson applied his brakes.
Peterson was making comments of "don't call the cops" to people at the scene, the affidavit quoted him as saying. His pupils were constricted, and he was speaking erratically, both indicators of possibly being under the influence of a drug.
He told law enforcement that he used methamphetamine five days earlier and claimed he had no recollection of the moments leading up to the crash.
Court records in Minnesota show that Peterson has been convicted of sneaking methamphetamine into a jail, selling illicit drugs and drunken driving.
