Baltimore man pleads guilty to fatal crash that shook Howard County’s Indian community

A Baltimore man pleaded guilty Thursday to drunkenly crashing his SUV head-on into a minivan on Interstate 95 in Howard County, killing a couple and seriously injuring their son and daughter.

The Jan. 4 crash killed Krishna Kishore Kotikalapudi, 49, and Venkata Asha Khanna Appana, 48, both of Marvin, North Carolina.

They had just returned to the United States after celebrating the new year in Dubai and were heading home. Their 21-year-old daughter Shivani and 16-year-old son Suchay, who were passengers in the crash, both suffered serious injuries and underwent major surgeries after the crash.

Michael Coupet, 35, of Locust Point, pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of life-threatening injury by a motor vehicle or vessel while under the influence of alcohol and related crimes.

Coupet’s plea deal with the Howard County State’s Attorneys Office calls for a 20-year sentence with all but 12 years suspended. Upon his release, Coupet would serve five years probation. He also would pay $17,481 in restitution.

Judge Maurice C. Frazier accepted the plea from Coupet, who has been held without bail in the Howard County Detention Center since his arrest. Family members of the victims attended the hearing remotely via Zoom.

Coupet’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 5 in Howard County Circuit Court.

Authorities said Coupet drove his Toyota Sequoia the wrong way on the highway and struck the family’s Chrysler Pacifica head-on. Appana was driving the Chrysler. Coupet had a blood alcohol content of 0.21, more than twice the legal limit of .08.

The incident stunned Howard County’s Indian community, which already was reeling from the killing of Nikitha Godishala just after the new year.

Godishala, 27, of Columbia, was found stabbed to death in her apartment near The Mall in Columbia. Howard County Police later obtained an arrest warrant for Arjun Sharma, 26, on charges including first- and second-degree murder, but he fled to India and remains at large.

The Indian Cultural Association of Howard County pushed out updates about both cases to its 14,000 Facebook followers. The tight-knit community has more than doubled since 2009 and accounts for 6.7% of the county’s total population.

Indian Cultural Association President Sanjay Srivastava called the plea a solemn moment for the community.

“As the legal process reaches its conclusion, we hope it brings some measure of closure and peace to the family,” he said in a statement. “Accountability cannot undo what happened, but it can help a community begin to heal.”