Avon Man Pleads Guilty in Tragic St. Cloud Crash

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- An Avon man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a crash that critically hurt a St. Cloud woman and killed her unborn baby.

Thirty-three-year-old Christopher Otte has pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Vehicular Operation, causing the death of an unborn child with a blood-alcohol level of .08 within two hours of driving, and one count of Criminal Vehicular Operation, causing great bodily harm with a blood-alcohol level of .08 within two hours of driving.

According to the criminal complaint, two witnesses saw Otte's SUV speeding westbound on 5th Street North in St. Cloud before hearing a loud crash and seeing smoke arise from the crash scene. Video from a nearby business on 5th Street also allegedly showed Otte running a stop sign at the intersection of 25th Avenue North.

The woman, 34-year-old Nastaho Amare, was pinned between the driver's seat and the steering wheel. St. Cloud firefighters helped get Amare out of the minivan as the front end caught fire.

Amare's baby was pronounced dead when she arrived at the hospital.

Court records show Amare needed surgery to fix her hip, femur, knee, and fractures to her ankle and foot.

Police say Otte was unsteady and had slurred speech after the crash. He was given field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test, which the charges alleged showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.20.

During a search, police say they found a receipt from a sports bar that showed the purchase of four Crown Royal Cokes that morning. Police say in Otte's mirandized statement, he admitted to only having two Whiskey Cokes and twice commented that the crash was his fault.

Otte has a previous DWI conviction in Stearns County from 2019.

He'll be sentenced on August 20th.