Charges: Driver had 10 drinks, told troopers 'sorry bro' after fatal wrong-way crash
A 20-year-old man has been charged with being drunk when he drove the wrong way down Interstate 394 and hit a vehicle, killing a 30-year-old Melrose man.
Joseph Paul Maness, 20, of St. Anthony, was charged Tuesday with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in the death of Alan Alexander Caraveo.
Authorities allege Maness got on the eastbound lanes of I-394 at 6th Street in downtown Minneapolis and drove west for miles in the wrong direction before crashing his Jeep into a Chrysler Sebring near Plymouth Road in Minnetonka just before 4 a.m. on Feb. 18.
And when state troopers asked him about going the wrong way down the freeway, he said: "Sorry bro."
According to the criminal complaint, the Minnesota State Patrol responded to a report of a wrong-way vehicle on the freeway in the City of Golden Valley, and "observed just prior to the Plymouth Road exit, the red Jeep had a head-on collision with a white Chrysler that was traveling the right way on the interstate."
Caraveo, who was driving the Chrysler, was pinned in the driver's seat and unresponsive, charges said. His passenger, a 21-year-old woman, was conscious and suffered broken bones to her face and internal bleeding. They were both taken to the hospital, where Caraveo died.
Troopers asked Maness if he knew he was going the wrong way and he replied "Sorry bro," charges state. He had "bloodshot watery eyes" and smelled of alcohol.
He admitted he had about 10 drinks before driving, charges said. A preliminary breath test showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.207.
Maness is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon. He was released from jail Tuesday after posting a $150,000 bond, jail records show.
