Cedar Rapids man charged with vehicular homicide

CEDAR RAPIDS — A teen arrested three weeks ago on a drunken driving charge kept driving despite a revoked license and caused a crash Monday night, killing a woman and seriously injuring another, according to police and court records.

Zawadi Christophe, 18, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with one count of homicide by vehicle — OWI, one count of serious injury by vehicle — OWI and one count of driving under suspension, according to a criminal complaint.

Around 9 p.m. Monday, Christophe was driving west in a gray Dodge Journey in the 800 block of First Avenue W, Cedar Rapids police said, when he rear-ended a BMW sport utility vehicle that was also heading west. The crash caused the BMW to veer into oncoming traffic, where it was hit by a Dodge Ram driving the opposite way.

A passenger in the BMW, 77-year-old Judy Hoover of Cedar Rapids, died in the crash. The driver of the BMW, 73-year-old Joanne Swenka of Marion, sustained serious injuries, including a brain bleed, skull fractures, facial fractures, several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a spinal cord fracture, a pelvis fracture and blood in her abdomen, according to the criminal complaint.

Swenka was transported to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment.

The driver of the Dodge Ram suffered minor injures, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department. He was able to communicate with officers who responded to the crash. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation and released.

Christophe was not injured. He admitted to consuming alcohol and marijuana before driving, and a breath test showed he had more than the legal limit of alcohol in his system, although the complaint did not include his breath alcohol level.

Christophe also admitted to hitting the BMW, records show. The complaint states that about three and a half hours after the crash, he said he “doesn’t even feel drunk anymore.”

Christophe had his first appearance on the charges in court Tuesday and is being held in the Linn County Correctional Center on a $100,000 cash-only bail.

His driver’s license was revoked after he was arrested Oct. 4 on a charge of operating while intoxicated. According to a criminal complaint, Christophe was stopped by Marion police. A test showed he had a breath alcohol level of 0.105.

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