Warrants: Underage student served alcohol before crash
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- New details are emerging from the night 20-year-old UNC student Chandler Kania hit a car head-on on Interstate 85. Three people were killed in the wreck.
Search warrants released Monday show Kania purchased and consumed alcohol at two Franklin Street businesses: La Residence and He's Not Here.
Prosecutors say Kania was drunk when he drove the wrong way down Interstate 85 on July 19.
A judge Monday denied a request by attorneys representing Kania that his bond be lowered to $250,000 so he can return home to recover from his injuries.
Kania, from Asheboro, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of felony death by a motor vehicle, and one count of felony serious injury by a motor vehicle in the deaths of 46-year-old Darlene McGee of Charlotte, her 49-year-old friend Felecia Harris of Charlotte, and Harris' 6-year-old granddaughter Jahnice Beard of Brooklyn, New York.
Harris' daughter, Jahnia King, 9, was also seriously hurt in the crash. She has since been released from the hospital.
the new search warrants in the case released Monday show the incredible damage to the Suzuki the women were riding in when it was hit by Kania's Jeep.
In court Monday, Judge Charles Anderson told the lawyers that Kania must be held responsible for his actions and refused to lower his $1 million bond. Judge Anderson said that he's only open to a bond reduction if Kania is released to a treatment facility.
"What are we doing wrong in this world and on college campuses all over the state and all over the country? We're not better preparing our most privileged, intelligent, and most entitled children on how to handle alcohol. Where does it start and where does it end?" asked Judge Anderson.
Kania's parents were in court and his mother was openly weeping.
Lawyers want Kania to be allowed to go home to Asheboro to recover from a broken ankle, a broken foot, and broken arm.
Family members of the victims were also in court.
"There were five victims in this tragedy. There was the three deaths, the little girl who was clutching her mother's corpse in the car, and the 20-year-old who ran into them. He's a victim as well, but like I said earlier, he's a victim of his choices," offered Bakojo Oguntola, a cousin of the victims.
If convicted on all charges, Kania faces 40 to 50 years in prison.
