Driver With Kids Named Aryan And Nation Charged In Crash That Killed Indigenous Woman
A Montana driver with children named Aryan and Nation has been charged with homicide in the March hit-and-run killing of Mika Westwolf, an Indigenous woman.
The case drew widespread attention and calls for accountability after Popular Information reported that authorities did not immediately charge Sunny White, whom many in the community believe to be a white nationalist, for her alleged role in the death of Westwolf. The 22-year-old, who was an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe and is also Navajo, Cree and Klamath, was walking to her home on the Flathead Reservation in the early hours of March 31 when she was struck and killed.
But on Oct. 18, Lake County Attorney James Lapotka said he had found probable cause to charge White with five felonies, including vehicular homicide, drug possession and child endangerment. The damage to White’s Cadillac Escalade allegedly matched debris near the ditch along a highway where Westwolf’s body was found. Westwolf died of multiple blunt force injuries caused when White hit her head-on with enough force to propel her body toward the ditch, Lapotka said.
White was previously charged with child endangerment, and her young children, who were reportedly in the SUV at the time of the crash, were removed from her care, but Lapotka dropped those charges, telling Popular Information in May that he needed “more time” to collect evidence.
Mika Westwolf was killed in the early morning hours of March 31.
Westwolf’s parents criticized local authorities for the slow pace of the investigation and for keeping them in the dark about its progress and how their daughter died. Carissa Heavy Runner, Westwolf’s mother, previously told HuffPost that one investigator in particular had been “condescending, negative and almost victim-blaming” when they spoke. After launching an awareness campaign, she learned that families of other missing and killed Indigenous people faced similar obstacles when dealing with law enforcement.
According to the new charging documents, a trooper who searched White’s car said he found five syringes, two unopened packages of Narcan and a small makeup tube containing methamphetamine. Toxicology reports indicated that White had fentanyl and methamphetamine in her blood, which was drawn the morning of the crash, Lapotka said. White’s cellphone data, he said, placed her at the scene at 3 a.m., when surveillance footage captured a vehicle driving toward and braking at the spot where Westwolf’s body was found. According to investigators, another driver said an SUV had passed him near the crash scene driving about 90 miles per hour.
Westwolf’s family called White’s arrest “a bittersweet moment” in an update posted Friday on Mika Matters, the website they created to raise awareness and demand accountability from authorities in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) cases. While they felt “a sense of relief and satisfaction,” they said, it was also “a painful reminder of the ongoing struggles faced by countless Indigenous families.
“Mika’s family expresses their sympathy and solidarity with all families who continue to endure the heart-wrenching uncertainty and loss associated with MMIR cases. They understand that in this day and age, it is deeply disheartening that such fights for justice are still necessary.”
More than 43,000 people signed a petition by asking the Department of Justice to intervene in the case, claiming that local authorities were being “uncooperative and frustratingly slow.”
White is expected to be arraigned Wednesday, Lapotka told HuffPost, which he said will likely be continued until she has an attorney.
