Charges Filed In Fatal March Woodbury Crash That Killed Teen

WOODBURY, MN — A Woodbury teen was charged in connection with the March 13 crash that killed 17-year-old Garrett Bumgarner, according to the juvenile petition filed against him in Washington County Juvenile Court. The teen was identified as the driver of the vehicle.

See also: Teenage Victim Identified In Fatal Woodbury Crash

Pete Orput, the Washington County Attorney, submitted a motion to charge the juvenile as an adult. If the motion is approved, Patch will identify the teen.

The driver was charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide and three counts of criminal vehicular operation, the petition said.

At 11:05 p.m. on March 13, officers were dispatched to the single-vehicle crash on Settler's Ridge Parkway near Sundance Lane, the petition said.

Sgt. Kissner was the first to arrive and reported multiple victims were injured and there was a fatality, officials said.

The 2015 Honda Accord was split in half after hitting a tree, according to the original news release from Woodbury Police Department.

Bumgarner had been ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

One of the injured victims identified the driver of the vehicle to officers, police said.

An officer later contacted the driver, who had been found standing near the front section of the vehicle and did not seem to be injured, police said. The teen appeared to be in shock and asked the officer for information about the other injured victims, police said.

The teen confirmed that he was the driver of the vehicle and identified the four victims, police said.

When asked what happened, the driver said he was having a sleepover with the others in the vehicle and they were on their way to McDonald's, the petition said. He said that the passengers in the vehicle told him about a bump in the road near Settler’s Ridge Parkway and Sundance Way, according to officials.

He said he went over the bump at 60 mph and the car "got a bit of air," police said. When the car came down, the teen said that it swerved and he doesn't remember what happened after that, police said.

When the officer walked the teen to a squad car for a medical evaluation, the teen said "I killed someone," according to police. The driver denied that drugs or alcohol were involved in the crash, police said.

The teen was then transported to Woodwinds Hospital for an evaluation, police said. While talking with a nurse, the driver recalled that a backseat passenger yelled, "You (expletive) idiot!" while he was driving, according to the petition.

The driver later submitted to a blood draw which confirmed that no drugs or alcohol were present in his system, officials said.

Police were unable to find anybody who witnessed the crash, according to the petition.

On March 22, officers interviewed a victim of the crash, who said that the driver offered to drive the group to McDonald's and said he really wanted to drive, police said. The victim said that the driver was "driving like an idiot" after the group left the house, saying he drove through a median with lines in the middle, making turns quickly and "whipping around corners," police said. The victim told police that he thought the driver was trying to show off.

The driver took a different route to McDonald's because he wanted to hit the bump, the victim told police. The victim remembers grabbing the handle above the car door as the vehicle hit the bump and that the car went in the air, landed and spun out, police said.

The victim told police he told the driver to slow down because he thought the car was going too fast for the bump, officials said. The victim didn't remember whether anybody was saying anything to the driver to either encourage him to go over the bump or tell him to stop, police said.

The victim said that the car hit the bump at a funny angle and that the car caught a lot of air before landing, officials said.

A second victim in the crash recalled occupants in the vehicle telling the driver to "chill out" prior to the crash, police said.

According to the Crash Reconstruction Report conducted by Sgt. Kelly Phillips of Minnesota State Patrol, the car was going 76 miles per hour when the speed limit in the area of the crash was only 40.

Phillips wrote that that there were no weather-related causes to the crash and that the crash was caused by the teen's driving.