Unlicensed driver speeds through red light in West Fargo, crashes and kills Minnesotan in other car

An unlicensed minivan driver sped through a red light in West Fargo, N.D., crashed into a compact car and killed a Minnesota woman driving the other vehicle, officials said Thursday.

The collision occurred about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of 19th Avenue and E. 9th Street, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said.

The motorist who died at the scene was a 28-year-old woman from Bemidji, the patrol said. Her identity has yet to be released.

The minivan driver, 30-year-old Sabastijan Tahirovic of Fargo, was taken by emergency responders to Sanford Medical Center and survived his injuries, the patrol said.

Tahirovic is expected to be charged with one or more crimes, the patrol added. Patrol Sgt. Nathaniel King said Tahirovic was driving without a valid license.

According to the patrol:

Tahirovic was speeding west on 19th, ran the red light and hit the Bemidji woman's car on the driver's side as she drove south on 9th.

The woman's car hit a parked pickup truck nearby and ended up in the parking lot of the Blarney Stone Pub.

In June 2020, Tahirovic broke into a Moorhead, Minn., auto shop overnight, stole a car and crashed it into two trees in Moorhead in the 1000 block of S. 32nd Avenue. A woman in the car with him suffered several injuries.

Tahirovic was convicted of burglary and sentenced in November 2020 to a term of 2 ½ years. He was released from prison in February 2022 after about 1 ¼ years.