WABASHA, Minn. -- A Wabasha man has been charged in a Christmas Day head-on crash that left a Wabasha County sheriff's deputy severely injured.
The Winona Daily News reports Friday that 23-year-old Brandon James Lastine is charged with first-degree assault and criminal vehicular operation.
A criminal complaint says Lastine was driving a stolen vehicle in the wrong lane when he collided with Deputy Andrew Hamann's unmarked squad car. Hamann's injuries include a dislocated hip, two fractured hip sockets and a broken femur. Lastine was also severely injured.
A crash investigation shows Lastine never hit the brakes. He was neither drunk nor on drugs, but says he can't remember the crash.
Prosecutors say Lastine made threatening comments about police in weeks before the crash. But his mother, Tracy Peterson, says her son wasn't targeting Hamann.
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