A Burnsville woman charged with murder in a high-speed Easter crash that killed two, was cited twice more after that crash for speeding and driving with a revoked license.
Camille Lashay Dennis-Bond, 19, was charged via warrant in Dakota County District Court Thursday with two counts of third-degree murder, two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm for the April 4 crash. All are felony charges.
According to court documents, she and her brother, Leon Bond, were racing each other in Burnsville and were traveling up to 114 mph when one of the cars hit a Honda CRV, cutting it in half, killing both occupants.
She was cited in September for driving with a suspended license and October for driving 59 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to court records.
A delinquency petition and a petition for adult certification of Leon Bond has been filed, Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said Friday. Leon Bond was 17 at the time of the crash, so Minnesota law requires that he be prosecuted as a juvenile unless the court certifies him as an adult.
Dalton Lee Ford, 22, of Prescott, Wis., and Tayler Nicole Garza, 22, of River Falls, Wis. were both killed in the crash.
According to the criminal complaint, just before 10:30 a.m. April 4, a white Chrysler, driven by Leon Bond was traveling east on County Road 42 between Burnsville Parkway and Newton Avenue. Next to him was his sister, Camille Dennis-Bond, driving a Chevy Malibu. Each had a front-seat passenger with them.
They were travelling from Savage towards Dennis-Bond’s home in Burnsville. She and her brother stopped at a red light at Burnsville Parkway. While at the light, occupants of each car lowered the car windows and had a conversation about whose vehicle could accelerate the fastest, according to the charges.
Bond thought he would win. He told police it was his idea, charges say.
Throughout the investigation, the story each driver told to the police changed, according to the charges. Both said they were going about 65 mph. Bond said he only accelerated to get past the Honda that was turning across the road. He said the Honda cut in front of them and was traveling fast, charges say.
The surveillance footage told another story, police said.
The footage shows Ford, the driver of the Honda, slowly entering the left turn lane of westbound county road 42, and without stopping, turning left to head south across the road onto Newton Avenue.
Within two to three seconds, Bond’s Chrysler, traveling up a hill, t-boned the Honda. Dennis-Bond’s Malibu passed by, narrowly missing the Honda, the complaint states.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol’s reconstruction report, Bond’s Chrysler was traveling between 93 and 100 mph at the point of impact. Five seconds prior to the crash, he had reached 114 mph. The posted speed limit is 50 mph, the complaint states.
Several witnesses to the crash told police that it appeared that the Chrysler and the Malibu were “racing” and driving “incredibly fast,” according to the complaint. When the Chrysler struck the Honda, a witness said the Honda “basically turned into powder and split in half.” Another witness told police the cars were going “crazy” fast and that that there was no way they could have stopped for someone in the way, the complaint states.
Both Ford and Garza died at the scene as a result of the injuries.
The two were dating, according to their obituaries. They both graduated from Prescott High School in 2017 and worked at the same restaurant in Wisconsin. Ford received an associate’s degree in Automobile Technology from Dunwoody College and Garza was attending Chippewa Valley Technical College pursing a degree in nursing.
The passenger in Bond’s car suffered life-threatening injuries, including fractured vertebrae, a broken leg and internal injuries that required five surgeries.
Dennis-Bond has three prior speeding convictions and one pending speeding citation. When stopped for driving 58 mph in a 45 mph zone Dec. 10, 2020 in Apple Valley, the officer wrote that she immediately became defensive and said she had been pulled over because “her music was too loud and she was black.” When he gave her a citation “she crumpled it up and threw it.”
Just this month, Oct. 2, Dennis-Bond was cited by Burnsville police for driving 59 mph in a 35 mph zone. She told police she was speeding because “she was going downhill.”
She next appears in court in Hastings Nov. 24.
Burnsville woman charged with murder in high-speed Easter crash; charges pending for her brother - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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