A former Twin Cities plastic surgeon who lost his medical license after allegations of molesting several female patients was charged Monday with being extremely drunk when he drove his SUV into a parked vehicle in northeast Minneapolis over the weekend, one month before he's scheduled to be sentenced for mistreating patients.
Christopher Kovanda, 57, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second- and third-degree drunken driving, careless driving and driving while uninsured in connection with the wreck about 9:10 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of 2nd Street NE. and 5th Avenue NE.
Kovanda, of Minneapolis, was jailed and remains held Monday without bail ahead of a court appearance Tuesday afternoon. A message was left with one of his attorneys seeking a response to the drunken driving allegations.
A state trooper administered a preliminary breath test at the crash scene, and it measured his blood alcohol content at 0.214%, more than 2½ times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
According to the criminal complaint:
A state trooper sent to the crash location saw Kovanda's SUV with heavy front-end damage after he hit a parked vehicle that was pushed into a second parked vehicle. Kovanda remained nearby and told law enforcement he had "several large beers" at an Oktoberfest event, the charges read.
A field sobriety test found Kovanda struggled to keep his balance when asked to perform certain standard tasks. He was arrested after failing the breath test.
Court records in Minnesota show Kovanda has a previous drunken driving conviction in 2015.