Fake license charge filed against student in wrong-way I-85 crash

Chandler Michael Kania, 20, of Asheboro, was charged Friday with two counts of obtaining alcohol with a false driver's license.

State Highway Patrol troopers say Kania was driving north in the southbound lanes near the split of I-85 and Interstate 40 in Orange County on July 19 when his Jeep Wrangler collided with a Suzuki driven by Felecia Harris.

Harris, 49, of Charlotte, her friend Darlene McGee, 46, of Charlotte, and Harris' granddaughter Jahnice Baird, 6, of Brooklyn, N.Y., were killed in the fiery wreck. Harris' daughter, Jahnia King, 9, was seriously injured but has since been released from UNC Hospitals.

Authorities said Kania used a fake ID to drink at two Chapel Hill bars the night before the crash. La Residence and He's Not Here have been cited by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission with selling alcohol to someone under age 21.

Tests showed that Kania had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17, which is more than twice the level at which a driver is considered impaired under North Carolina law. Because Kania is underage, however, any alcohol in his system would have been illegal.

Separate tests also showed that he had marijuana in his system at the time of the crash.

Kania, who was a rising junior at the time but is no longer enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill, also has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of felony death by motor vehicle, one count of felony serious injury by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, driving the wrong way on an interstate, careless and reckless driving, driving after consuming alcohol as a minor, possession of alcohol by a minor and having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.

He is under house arrest awaiting trial.