NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Families are mourning the loss of two women in their 20s.
Police said that the women were killed by a driver who was impaired and had recently completed probation from a previous DUI, according to court records. The family of 25-year-old Holly Wagner told News 2 the St. Louis native had a bright future ahead. She had graduated from Fisk University and was preparing for dental school.
However, those dreams ended Saturday night when police said that Wagner and 24-year-old Natalie White were hit by a vehicle. Another 26-year-old woman was also injured.
“We know that drinking and driving or consuming other drugs and driving is not an accident. It's not a mistake. It's a choice,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Regional Executive Director Alex Otte told News 2.
Twenty-two-year-old Giovanni Bolstad is charged with vehicular homicide by intoxication, vehicular assault and driving on a revoked license after police said he ran a flashing red light leaving Rivergate Mall. Police added that he smelled of alcohol. A search of his Jeep led to the discovery of multiple open containers.
Bolstad had just completed a one-year probation in April from a previous DUI, which the District Attorney’s office said is fairly typical on a first offense.
“While we support privileges being taken away and things like that, we hear this all too often," Otte said. "People driving on a suspended license, people driving when their license has been revoked. For those reasons, MADD supports an ignition interlock device."
MADD continues to promote the HALT Act, which calls for "impaired driving prevention technology" in all new cars by 2027.
Otte said that MADD doesn't call for any one particular sentence for all DUI offenders, but instead, the organization calls for a sentence that would keep the accused from driving impaired again.
"When there is an instance where a person gets pulled over or there's a single-vehicle crash and no one else is hurt or killed, no one else has been hurt or killed this time," Otte said. "If we allow there to be a next time, if the sentence imposed does not cause that person to learn their lesson and to learn the consequences of their actions, this is what happens and it's devastating,” Otte said.
Bolstad was booked into the Metro jail on a $332,500 bond.
