Driver charged after head-on crash with trooper in Bismarck

BISMARCK—A Bismarck man was hospitalized and received multiple charges early Sunday, March 10 after driving the wrong way down a highway and striking a North Dakota Highway Patrol vehicle.

A NDHP trooper was parked in the median on Highway 83 in north Bismarck around 3 a.m. when he saw a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix traveling south in the northbound lane of the highway.

According to a release from the NDHP, the trooper activated his lights and drove onto the highway to get the driver’s attention. As the Pontiac drew closer, it drifted toward the median then swerved back onto the roadway, hitting the trooper’s vehicle head on.

Front airbags deployed on both cars. Another vehicle on the highway at the time avoided collision.

The trooper sustained minor injuries and did not require hospitalization. The driver of the Pontiac, Steven Kessel of Bismarck, and his passenger, Nathan Lavallie of Mandan, were both taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Kessel was charged with DUI, reckless endangerment and driving with a suspended license.

The crash remains under investigation.

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